Balto the space dog!
by Brythespy
Summary: This story takes place in 1957. Laika is training to become the first living thing to go into space, but she has a family, meanwhile Balto has nobody. At the last second, Balto switches places with her and boards the Sputnik II satellite and goes into space. The ship malfunctions and radiation drives Balto insane, but one voice keeps him calm, the one he loves, Jenna's voice.
1. The Beginning

**Before reading, note that everything you know about Balto is useless here. This is a new universe, but I made it kind of warm with home, by adding similarities between many things.**

**I did a good bit of research into this, though not much because I've always known about Laika. I mostly looked into the details of the launch and other technical stuff. When you're through reading this chapter, I'd suggest you read up on her story, it's an undeniably sad one at the very least...**

**NOTE: Story could get confusing, so PAY ATTENTION to the titles, like the one under this line vvvvv.**

* * *

Balto, November 3rd, 1957.

I always loved flying, but did I ever think that I would fly so high that I left the very air that I would fly through? That was the mission; one poor four legged bastard would be chosen to fly higher than any living thing ever flew before. I listened to the countdown from outside, they didn't even bother to install some kind of speaker in here. I closed my eyes as I heard the countdown. Thought about how I got here, and how I lived my life up until this point. I tried to pry the thoughts of Jenna out of my mind, but it wouldn't work. My last three seconds on earth would be spent thinking about her, my love.

3...2...1...

1955, the streets of Creznov.

My life began as a stray, simple vermin to the folks of the only town I called home. Creznov. It was a small settlement on the outskirts of Siberia. It was cold year around and for half the year the sun never showed its warming face. I was alone in all of this, a half-breed, abandoned by his mother at just 4 weeks old. My half wolf side meant that no human would ever want me, and I accepted that. I would not be here today if I were just left to die at such a young age, I owed my life to a friendly caring Russian snow goose named Boris. The old fella took care of me for as long as I could remember. We lived in the outskirts of town on an old grounded trawler, which overlooked the arctic sea. Our town wasn't home to many people, it was primarily a fishing and export dock on the northernmost tip of Russia. The cold didn't bother me though, I had strong wolf genetics on one side, and the other side was literally bred for the cold. My husky side wanted to run, run on a dogsled team, but there was no need for sled dogs anymore, no, they were replaced by the autocar, snowmobiles, or airplanes. Airplanes... I loved to watch them, how they flew so freely in the sky, leaving on adventures, seeing amazing places. I could watch them take off and land from the front of my boat, and I spent most of my time sitting there.

"And what is so interesting about flying loud metal contraptions?" Boris asked me.

"Heheh, you wouldn't like them, because they fly faster than you!"

"Yes, but can planes swim? Hah!" Boris replied.

"No, but neither can you." I replied with a laugh, I knew all about Boris's fear of water, and he knew it too. I smiled as he walked off defeated to go about his normal duties.

"Just don't stay up too late now Fido. Big day tomorrow!" He said as he jumped down a deck.

"Alright, fine." I said, then walked over to my spot and slipped under my blanket.

My niece was coming over to visit, Laika. Boris always called her Kudryavka (Кудрявка). He said it meant Little Curly, or something along those lines. I usually just shortened it to Kudry or Curls. But I call her by her new name Laika, more often now, she likes it, her first owners gave the name to her and she's proud of it. Having grown up in the same town; I found out that she was my only living blood, my only relative, the daughter of my long lost brother. She didn't share my half wolf side, it was reduced to a quarter wolf, quarter Terrier and Half Husky, but she got it all from my brother. He was so much of a husky that he did in fact get adopted, unlike me, but it didn't matter, I know nothing of my brother other than what Laika has told me.

Laika has been doing quite impressive things since she left last month. She was accepted onto the Russian Federal Space Agency, to be trained for a groundbreaking mission. One of the dogs she was training with would be launched into orbit around Earth aboard the Sputnik II satellite. The dog would go down in history as the first ever living thing to go into space, and Laika was high on the list for the possibility of being picked. I was proud of my niece, she did what I couldn't, leave this town and go on an adventure.

* * *

1957.

"3…2…1…Lift off of the Sputnik PS rocket, in its course to pioneer in the space age!" I heard the announcer say in English. Boris taught me English, I thank him for that, because without it, I would not have learned what this mission was all about.

I felt the vibrations build under my compartment, the floor started rattling, I heard things beating on other things and I saw the glass shaking. God I hoped that it would stay. As the G-Forces began building, I heard the machines hooked to my body begin to turn on and do its job, monitor my conditions, and how I would react to the forces of double, triple, and up to 5 forces the pull of gravity. I looked out my window and noted an unusual amount of smoke and fire shooting out from somewhere. I couldn't see much of anything from this view, but I picked up a lot of chatter from the Russians on my receiver. I looked to the instruments that the Russian scientists installed in my suit. For the months pre-ceding the launch, I learned how to read them. I was nearing 4000 feet in altitude, my heart beat was nearly twice as normal, and my blood pressure was nearly twice normal as well. I stared out the window, just enough to see the ground disappearing below me.

"Uh, Natic Four-Seven" I heard a voice say in my radio piece. It was the code for a failure of departure of a major component. The reply was in English, so it was a bit hard for me to understand. D-block or A-Block, I had no idea, either way it was probably important.

* * *

1955

I was lost in my dreams, dreams of flying with the airplanes, dreams of going on amazing adventures in unknown lands, then someone had to interrupt them…

"Balto, Balto! Wake up sleepy eyes, Laika has been waiting." Boris screamed into my ears, and I awoke to him nearly pulling my eyelids off.

"I'm up, I'm up, jeez, no need to get all crazy now." I was joking with the old goose, he was not crazy, a crazy goose would not have been able to raise a child of another species to full adult-hood.

I rose out from under my blanket and shook my head a bit; it always helped to wash away the sleepiness. Then I walked out to meet Laika. I took a second to observe her, she had been gone for nearly three months training with the other dogs, and it showed on her. She was much stronger, more agile, and a lot less jumpy and crazy then she used to be. She even talked different, no longer using only Russian, she spoke to me in English.

"Balto! I'm glad I could see you, training has been so rough on me the past few weeks, I feared that I might not have gotten to see you." She said to me as she walked over and nuzzled my neck for a bit.

"Old curls, out there doing amazing things, training for amazing events… You'll go down in history, you know that?" I replied back to her.

"Yeah, that's if they pick me. There are other dogs you know."

"But how many of them have Wolf blood in them?" I said. Even though the town resented me for it, I was always proud of it. Boris taught me to embrace differences, and also taught me how awesome wolves are, and I soon grew to love my wolf side.

"Shh, Balto, you know I don't like to talk about… that."

"Why be ashamed of who you are? If anything wolf genetics mean you're faster, stronger and smarter than any of those other morons you train with."

"Well that may be true, but one of them…" She stopped herself.

"One of them what?"

"I found someone, he's another that their training. His name is Yakov, and he's sweet, and strong, and handsome, and… I think he wants to marry me."

"That's great Curls… I mean, Laika, I'll call you Laika." I replied nervously. Deep down I couldn't accept the fact that my only family might be picked to fly away forever, but I always kept the slightest optimism that she would not be picked, but who am I kidding, she's one of the best they've trained.

"Balto, you can always call me Curls, it will be your name to me, and I will cherish it always." She said as she rested her head on my chest. I missed her every day, and would miss her much more now.

"You're going to space, you're finding love.. Just a few months ago you were a hyper little puppy running with the humans, and driving me and Boris insane." I said with a little sadness in my words.

"I know things have changed, but I have not. I'll always be the same little pup that you grew up with."

"Well, tell me about your training, how are things going over at the Soviet Space Program?" I asked curiously.

"It's a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. They make us wear these heavy suits, and we wear them all the time. It's to train us to get used to the suits, I never could. They also run us on laps, I love running, I can't explain it." My smile couldn't get smaller as I knew the answer to her love of running.

"That's your Husky side speaking to you. I too love running, and any other Husky loves it as much." I replied with a keen voice.

"I guess so. Well other than that, we have to eat stuff that looks like slime, but it doesn't taste that bad, it's just weird to eat it. Oh and they also took me on this machine that spun me around so fast, I could feel my heart sinking in my chest. It was so fun!" She said excitedly.

"Glad to hear it isn't too hard on you Curls, and that you're enjoying it."

"Why do you sound so sad Balto?" She asked me, but I ignored her and walked over to the edge of my boat.

"You're growing up too fast, the little puppy I called my niece is long gone, you'll be in space soon…" I said full of despair.

"If it's puppies you want, you're going to love my suprise!" She said. I knew what it was already, I could smell it.

"I'm going to have puppies of my own! You're going to be a great-uncle!" She said as she jumped around me.

"I… can't believe it, you're having kids?" Even though I knew it, I didn't want to hear it. All it told me was that someone mated with my niece, the very thought of it... But on the other hand, I couldn't hold back the pure happiness that I might have more family. Maybe if this Yakov guy is nice, I might accept him then.

"Yes, and you're going to be as much in their life as I am. I want you to be there when they grow up, I want you to teach them about their long lost wolf heritage, tell them stories, basically do things that I might not be able to do…" She said as she looked down.

"Laika, do not think that way, I'm sure training isn't going to keep you away from them all the time."

"Balto, think about it… If I get picked to go up in that satellite, I would be the first to ever do so, I might not come back." I couldn't think about it anymore, such sad thoughts, she was my only family, and I could not lose her.

"Laika…" I said as I comforted her.

"Call me Curls… Please? It makes me happy." She looked up to me with watery eyes, and I could see the tiny puppy I've come to know there.

"Okay, Curls. What would make you think that the Russians don't know what they are doing? They launched their first one without a hitch, why should this time be any different?" I assured her.

"I don't know, Balto, it's just stressful thoughts."

"Stress isn't good for puppies, are they kicking yet?" I asked.

"Yes, I think so, it's only been 3 weeks though."

"Three weeks? But, you've only been gone for a few months!" I said surprised. Though it was mostly joking, she was a grown dog now, and not the puppy I used to know, she could handle her own desicions.

"What can I say? Yakov-"

"Yeah, yeah, I don't want to hear about that guy anymore, makes me angry." I said, cutting her off.

"Balto, I love him, and he loves me. We're might be getting married soon, so like it or not, I'm going to be talking about him a lot. But you're always going to be my Uncle Balto, my only true family. Yakov can never replace that."

"I know, Curls, it's just hard… And that isn't true. Yakov is family now, you share marriage, and kids, and I will accept him as my own family."

"Thanks Balto."

"Now let's go check up on those humans of yours, I bet they miss you as much as I did." I suggested.

We walked off, I hesitated, but asked her about Yakov more, figured I'd beat her to it, since she would probably not stop talking about him all the way up until marriage. There was one detail that set me over the top, and I would accept Yakov as my own family within a heartbeat. Yakov was also Half-Wolf, so the puppies would be about 5/8th wolf, more than I was, but not by much. I would love these puppies as if they were my own, if I were ever to have any of my own.

We reached her owner's house, they let me in with her, after remembering that I was the brother of her father, so I must be okay. This was the first time I was ever accepted by Humans, even if it was just to visit them with my niece, it felt great. Laika would stay here for the next 4 months, to care for her children, and then she would return to training in autumn. I would cherish the time I could with her, for she was right about one thing...

The Sputnik II was not designed to return to Earth safely.


	2. Chapter 2

1957, high flyer.

It actually got a bit dull and boring, as it took nearly fifteen minutes to reach the next point. I could only stare out of my window, and I noticed something odd, the bluish hue of the sky was fading, and replaced by... Stars! As if it suddenly got night time already. But as I looked to the right, I saw the sun there, bright as ever. It was an amazing sight, the sun and stars together in the same picture, but I'd get a much better sight soon. As I continued to admire the millions of stars beyond me, I felt something shake the entire rocket, and it felt like something exploded. I panicked, but when the hatter on my radio seemed calm, I remembered that it must have been the main boosters that departed from my part. Once again, it seemed to go off with a hitch, but then I heard panicked English words over my radio. I couldn't understand him, he was using odd words. Something about the A-block not disconnecting and tearing off thermal protection. I didn't know what the words "Thermal", "Disconnecting", "tearing", or "Protection" meant, so it was all gibberish. Someone spoke in Russian now, and they mentioned Laika, and hoped that she would be safe, but they knew it wasn't her in here, as much as I knew.

1955. New faces.

For the next four weeks, I stayed with Laika in her home. Her owners had accepted me as we'll as they accepted her. I told myself that the humans wouldn't want to fend off Laika's only family, but I'm sure it was equally due to the fact that Laika would not stop crying, whining and barking if they put me outside. It was like this at first, but the family got used to me after about a week. It even got to the point where the neighbors, whom always came over to visit, trusted me and even let their child play with me as the adults talked. I liked being pet, it was soothing and felt like a massage I hoped he liked it when I liked him everywhere, since I was trying my best to be a "dog".

A few more weeks passed, and Laika was getting bigger and bigger as her due date approached. The puppies would soon show their adorable faces, but one face never showed, and that was of Yakov. I never got to meet the guy, but I'm glad I didn't because I probably would have kicked his ass up and down Creznov if he ever did show his face. He skipped out on Laika when he found out that she was pregnant, and though Laika was broken down, I kept close to her for comfort. My niece was tough though, she'd get over it in no time.

On Laika's puppy-day, the family kept me outside, as the town vet came over to help her birth the puppies. I was furious that they wouldn't let me in so I could be by her side, but figured I'd use this time to go and visit Boris. In the past two months, I've seen less and less of Boris, he's been going places, flying with other geese, and it made me happy that he could easily move on… Unlike I could have. I'd always miss Boris; he is my father after all. Luckily today, he was at the boat, resting up after his long flight from America's newest state, Alaska.

"Boris! You old goose, it's been a while this time."

"Ah, boyckik, how are you?" Boris asked as he stretched his sore wings. I heard a few cracks come from his back.

"It's been great, but right now Curls is going through a hard time." I said with a hint of a smile at Boris.

"What? What's wrong with her?" Boris said at full attention.

"Haha, she's having her pups right as we speak!"

"I can't believe it; you're going to be an uncle! That means I'm going to be great, great uncle!"

"Yep, you're double the great now Boris. I only wish that I could be by her side right now, but her damn humans kicked me out…" I said with false anger, deep down I know why they kicked me out.

"Ah, let the humans do what they do best. They have vet there, yes?" Boris asked.

"Yeah, he was the one who suggested I be put outside."

"Then that is a good thing, vet knows best, you might not mean it, but you could be harmful to the puppies." Boris said. The old goose was a wise one, and I believed him.

"What could I possibly do?" I asked, knowing that there was something, just now knowing what it was.

"Well, you could have diseases that you are safe from, but poor defenseless pups are not."

"Ugh, I guess you're right… I hope I get to see them tomorrow; they're my only family in the world. Well, besides you… Dad." I gave him that, it's been a while since I referred to him as my father, and I saw that it made him smile.

"They will all be alright son."

"So how was your trip to Alaska? You flew thousands of miles for just a party? There had to be something else."

"Ah, yes. You remember I spoke of my only living relative, my brother Gustovik?" Boris asked with a raised let eye.

"Yeah… What kind of things did you two get into now?" I remembered Boris's stories that he would always tell me over the years. Him and his brother used to get into trouble, and even had a whole village want them dead, but they always seemed to get out of it one way or another.

"Nothing bad, but he did have some top secret info on America's plan to counter the Sputnik."

"You don't say? Wow."

"Gustovik has connections deep inside the American's Alaskan fort, and he's been listening in on the chatter."

"So what did he say?" I asked impatiently.

"Well…" Boris continued in a lower voice.

I listened to Boris recount his conversation with Gustovik; nothing was really all that interesting. Everyone knew that the Sputnik 1 started this whole space-race battle between our Soviets and the Americans. Everyone also knew that they would have something to prove to us, and it'd be big. Some people went as far as to claim that America was going to claim the Moon all for themselves. Greedy bastards.

After a while of me actually interested in listening about Boris's trip, I started to show signs of sleepiness, and he responded by shutting up and helping me to sleep. The old goose always put a smile on my face when he would understand such little things, I guess it's because he raised me, after all. A simple facial gesture was enough for Boris to read, and understand that I was tired. He walked with me over to where I used to sleep, it's been almost a month since I slept on my boat, and I was actually happy that I could spend time here. I knew of Laika's plans though, and I told her that I would be part of it, and that would mean leaving Creznov…

1957, The world in view.

I was nearly an hour into flight until the next phase started. I felt the pull of gravity start to decrease, and shift to the left. I panicked once again, but hearing calm voices in my radio told me nothing was going wrong. I started panting, and figured that it was just my increase in blood pressure that was making me hot. My suit started beeping quietly and slowly. I didn't know what it meant, maybe I was actually in trouble. I ignored it and read the instruments, heart rate was at 220bpm, and my blood pressure was almost twice normal. I needed to calm down if I didn't want to black out and miss out on this once in a lifetime picture. I tried to shift about in my cabin, ry and get a bit more comfortable, and maybe get a little more airflow in here. I looked up at the corner and noticed a large fan that I read in Russian "Thermal control". It should be turned on, it's pretty hot in here, but I didn't know how to turn it on, or alert the humans that it wasn't on. I figured it needed to get a little hotter before it'd notice the temperature. It wasn't too bad right now, and I'd soon have something to take my mind off of it…

My cabin loosened and turned now, matching the pull of gravity, so that I wouldn't be walking on the walls. It felt like this entire rocket would tip over and fall, but when I looked out of the window, the sight was beautiful.

Outside my window I could see Earth there, such an amazing sight brought tears to my eyes. How everything seemed to insignificant, all of the terrible things that happened on that world were no longer visible. I starred outside at the planet before me, I could not stop my tears of happiness, it was truly beautiful. I looked north as far as the curvature of the Earth allowed, and noted out the tip of Alaska. Then as far west as I could see, I swore I could see the Red Sea. Then I looked for the approximate location of where my rocket lifted off from, and wondered who was there, watching me. I could not see anyone of course, but I could swear that two eyes were locked on my tiny speck of light in the sky that I figured was all that could be seen. Jenna…


	3. Chapter 3

**So things are picking up now, chapters are going to be longer. A lot of things that don't necessarily have to do with the space launch at all happen here. This story was meant to be sort of a tribute to Laika, but at the same time, a fictional story about realistic events that gave more background information behind Laika.**

* * *

1955, Dreams and warnings.

I awoke early, a dream kept on waking me throughout the night. It was an odd dream; I was in space, on top of the world, and floating, but I was in a machine or something. I couldn't move, or knew how I was going to get back down to earth. My dream turned into a nightmare soon, as I fell to the earth and suffered a terrible fate. Being burned alive as my body fell, with nothing but a thin metallic capsule to protect me, back into Earth's atmosphere, after that point, I seemed to have taken on a third person view, and watch as my own body disintegrated along with the capsule, until nothing was left. I shot up and looked around, I was lucky that Boris noticed me wake up so that I could pry the terrible nightmare out if my mind.

"Morning son, something on your mind?" Boris asked.

I noticed that in my thinking, my head was turned slightly and I looked a bit crazy, staring at the goose as I was recalling last night's dream...

"It's nothing. Just more terrible dreams haunting me..." I replied.

"Ah, well are they important? Remember what happened last time you had nightmare and it turned out to save a life!" Boris recalled.

"Yeah, you always bring that up; it was just a huge coincidence." I replied modestly. Nobody in the world but Boris knew that I had saved a little boy from dying that day, long ago, and that my dreams actually meant something.

* * *

1952, cry for help, flash back, Balto.

"Heeeeelp" Balto heard an ominous cry for help in the distance, and ran towards the source, somewhere far beyond the trees and in the direction of a known river. He was just a pup at this point, almost a year old; a growing wolf dog, he had lost his puppy fur, and began to grow in a tough, scruffy gray coat. He had only recently gotten to the age where Boris was not his only hope for survival, and was currently out on his first lone hunt ever today.

"Why does that scream sound so familiar?" Balto muttered, but didn't slow his pace.

"Balto! Where are you going in such a hurry?" Boris yelled, he had just come out from behind a thick tree line just in time for Balto to bolt past him at break neck speeds. He did not hear the cry for help, and figured that Balto had simply succeeded in seeking out prey. He jumped up and flew after him, yet was still struggling to keep up.

Balto reached a river bank shortly, and noticed upstream was choked by a large ice dam. The river devided the valley that was the same on both sides, enclosed by thick fir trees. He looked up-stream and noticed that part of the ice dam broke, and it caused the river grow to nearly twice its size, and three times its volume. The dam would soon break apart completely and a flash flood would surely engulf a good amount of the valley. He looked around and gasped as he saw a little boy in the center of the river, holding onto a rock for dear life. Balto froze for a second, as he knew where he remembered the area from.

Last night Balto could not sleep, a nightmare kept him running in his sleep, and it woke him up frequently. A boy was trapped in this very same river, and if he didn't get help soon, he'd be swept away when the ice dam broke, and he'd eventually go over the edge... A deadly waterfall at least 200 feet to the bottom, and it wouldn't be a soft landing, years of erosion created large, jagged rocks sticking out if the river at the waterfalls base.

Now the exact same scene was unfolding in front of him for real, and he was not going to let the same thing happen. Balto failed to save the boy in his dream, but he would not fail in real life.

"Balto what is the big rush?" Boris slapped himself as he took in the scene before him. He didn't get a chance to speak before watching Balto dive into the river after the boy. He watched helpless as Balto frantically swam across to meet the boy in the center of the river.

"AHH a wolf! No! I'm already in trouble." The boy said. Balto noticed his fear, and thought the boy was no older than ten or so. Where were his parents?

He ignored he boys' fear of him and grabbed him by his shirt collar, and swam like crazy to the river edge. The current was way too strong, and it pulled the two down river, more than half way to the edge of death. Balto did reach the river bank with the boy, but there was nothing to hold on to, and it was at least five feet up a wall of dirt on the edge of the river.

"Crap" Balto thought. He looked around, boys' shirt still in his mouth, and saw a tree root sticking out and extending into the crazily flowing river.

"Aha!" He thought, and dragged the boy further downstream. When he reached the branch, he threw the boy on it, and luckily the boy got the message and climbed up the branch for his life, just as the two heard a loud crack...

Balto's head shot towards the source of the sound, up river, not even a thousand feet north, as the entire dam let loose and a wall of water at least fifty feet shot towards the two at super speed.

"Balto get out of there!" Boris yelled, he felt helpless, but flew over Balto and helped pull the boy to safety.

Balto pulled himself up, not having much luck, as he didn't have hands to grab onto the branch.

The aggressive wave neared the scene, and it was accompanied by a terribly loud roar. Balto stared at the death approaching him and closed his eyes, with his teeth locked onto the branch, not even half way up. He shot them open and yelled to Boris.

"You and the boy get out of here!" He said a bit muffled with his teeth sunk into the tree root.

"To hell with that plan, I'm not leaving my son!" Boris yelled.

The boy already ran to safety at the higher edge of the valley and watched as the bird tried with all his strength to lift the dog. He looked to the left and panicked.

"You can do it boy!" He screamed as the torrential wave neared Balto and Boris, less than two hundred feet now.

"BORIS! Fly away now!" Balto said, and with a second to spare, Boris stared into his eyes and felt pride. His son risked his life to save another's son.

"Good luck kiddo." Boris said as a tear fell down his beak. He knew Balto had a plan, and he flew off just as Balto disappeared under the huge wave.

"Balto?" Boris screamed, but it was useless. He stared down into the water, and saw that Balto was being pulled hard by the intense blast, but he was locked into that tree root with all of his might. A full minute passed now, until the river finally started to calm down, after dropping millions of gallons of water over the edge.

Boris looked around, and was surprised to see another come to help. The boy soon ran to the river edge, which was unrecognizable, and almost completely different, having been eroded by 30 mile and hour currents. Boris looked around, panicking; not knowing exactly where it was Balto was last seen.

"Balto!" Boris finally screamed with happiness. His son was still there, holding onto that tree root like his life depended on it. Ha.

Balto once again tried to pull himself up and Boris once again tried to help. It was still a futile effort, until the boy came to help. He reached down as pulled the root up like it was a rope, and quickly, and surprisingly easily, pulled the wolf-dog up.

Once Balto got on solid ground, he fell right away and began to cough up water. He would not live long with his lungs full of water, and the boy knew this. Luckily for Balto, the boys' father taught him CPR, and how to deal with people – or in this case a wolf-dog - who were on the brink of drowning.

The boy rushed over and quickly flipped Balto on his back, and slammed his fist down hard on Balto's chest, and then up towards Balto's head, forcing air and water from his lungs. Balto opened his eyes now, as almost a full liter of water escaped his mouth, and was followed by repeated deep coughs. He wasn't out of the clear yet, the boy hit him again, and more water escaped. Eventually, Balto started breathing on his own, and the boy got a smile in his face.

"You're my hero boy. My name is Chase." He said as Balto struggled to get up and walk over to him, still gasping for breath and forcing air from his mouth. The boy got down on his knees so that his eyes matched Balto's height. Balto walked slowly to meet his outstretched hand, and melted when the boy began scratching his head and ears. Balto loved it, up until now; humans have always tried to kill him. Boris just sat back and watched with a smile, because, to him, humans were also terrible creatures that only ever meant harm, but this small human was the nicest the both of them have ever come across. The same could not be said about his father...

"Chase! Get away from that wild animal!" A deep voice said from the left. He walked up with his hunting rifle aimed at Balto's face. All three surprised and jumped around.

"Dad! Don't shoot!" The boy grabbed Balto tight around his neck and shielded him with his own body.

"Son! What are you doing? It's a wolf, he's dangerous." The man said as he walked over and tried to pry his son off of Balto. Balto noted the man's genuine concern, and figured it was best if he ran off. But the boy wouldn't let him go yet.

"Dad, you didn't see it. I owe my life to this wolf, he saved me! I won't let you kill him."

"Chase, what do you mean? What happened? Why are you soaking wet?" The man shot questions, not in an angry tone, he sounded very worried.

"I fell in the river, trying to run after an arctic hare, he jumped away at the last second, and I fell in the river." chase explained, still holding Balto tightly in his arms. Balto licked the boys arm to show that he was calm.

"Oh son, in so glad you got out safely, if you got hurt I wouldn't be able to live with myself, for bringing you out here." The man said as he put a hand on Chase's shoulder.

"I'm fine dad, this dog saved my life. And don't worry, I love hunting with you!"

"He did? This dog looks more like a wolf, wolves can't be trusted. But he doesn't seem that bad, I still don't feel comfortable with you holding him like that, he might still bite you."

"No way, I love this dog, he wouldn't hurt me. He licked my arm!" The boy barked back.

"Chase, please." The father said concerned, and gently pulled his sons arm.

"Okay, but don't hurt him." The boy said, and hesitated to let go of Balto.

Balto sensed the man's intentions and was relieved to find out that he would fulfill the boys wish.

"There we go." The man said as he hugged his son, grateful that he was safe.

"I thank you, dog." The man said as he extended his hand. Balto walked up slowly, head low to the ground; ears flat, tail wagging slowly back and forth flat against his hind legs. Then the man grabbed his gun, and made Balto freeze in his tracks.

"It's alright boy, I won't hurt you." Then he tossed the gun aside.

Balto was weary, but eventually met the man's hand and licked it. The men smiled and patted Balto on the head. Once again, Balto loved being pet and enjoyed every second of it.

"Haha, this guy isn't so bad." The man said with a slight chuckle.

"He's a hero! Wait... Dad, can... Can we keep him?" The boy asked, ready to beg his father.

The man's smile faded and turned into sadness.

"I'm sorry son; we just can't take in a wolf. We both owe him for saving your life, but it wouldn't be right to take a wolf from his natural habitat. He wouldn't be happy locked in our tiny backyard. The right thing for us to do is leave him in the wild, where he belongs, where he is free."

The boy nodded his head in understanding, but was still sad.

"We'll leave him our kill; guy looks like he hasn't eaten in weeks!" The man said, and him and his son walked over to the forest edge with a smile, and picked up a large brown sack. They returned to Balto, who, for some reason didn't move, and dropped the sack in front of him. Balto turned his head at an angle with a confused look. Before him was a brown blood-stained sack that was three times larger than he was. The man chuckled softly at Balto's cute reaction to the event, and unzipped the side of it. A huge, dead animal fell out and the smell hit Balto. Food.

"We should go, let's leave him to his heroes feast." The man suggested as he picked up his son, hugging him again.

"Take care nice wolf, good luck through the harsh winter." The boy said as he was carried off.

Balto smiled at the gift they left him, but looked at the humans as they disappeared behind the wall of huge firs along the valley edge. It was the first time he had come into contact with humans that didn't have to end with an escape for his life. He followed them a bit, secretly, just to see where they might live, then jumped at a loud, gunshot like sound that came from a large metal machine the humans entered. The loud nasty smelling machine turned on and quickly sped off down the trail. It started moving twice as fast as Balto could ever run.

"Humans are weird." Balto thought, he figured they didn't live far, and walked back to bring their gift back home, it would feed Balto for two weeks. He wondered if the humans would ever return in their fast machine, but little did he know that it was the last he'd ever see of them.

* * *

1955, puppies.

"Yeah, that was my first ever experience with humans. My dog side came out and I loved them. I still wish for humans to adopt me, to have a caring owner, a family."

"I wished for you to get adopted too, since the day I met you. I wouldn't have thought I could be father of a wolf-dog, and always knew that you'd he better off with human owners."

"You did a great job raising a pup, dad." I said with a smile, and nuzzled the old goose a bit, who pushed me away playfully.

"Hey, speaking of puppies, is it not time to go and check on Laika?"

"I suppose so." I replied, though I was still unsure if I was ready. These puppies aren't mine, yet I felt like I was about to have pups in my life as if they were my own.

I said bye to Boris and walked towards Laika's home. I took the long way, surrounded on both sides by large, brown buildings that were decorated with advertisements, in both English and Russian languages. Boris had used the translations to help me learn English; a skill that he figured would come in handy someday. I walked past a building that had its door open, and took a peak in. It was a hair salon, and a human that was shaving another's hair, jumped at the sight of me, and accidentally shaved the man's head too far. I smiled at my unintentional scare on the lady, which caused her to mess up the man's hairstyle completely. He was angry, but didn't yell at the lady; instead he jumped up and ran after me. My smile didn't fade; I've been chased hundreds of times before, and almost absent-mindedly escaped the man with ease.

I jumped up and over a stack of crates and landed on the other side, this alleyway was a straight path to Laika's house. I took a deep breath and proceeded to walk up to the door and scratch at it. The humans opened it and pet me as I walked in, her owners, Fredrik and Katja. I licked the man's hand and allowed Katja to scratch my ears a bit.

"We missed you boy, Laika has too..." Katja said, referring to Laika's howling for them to let me return.

They smiled and walked off to the living room, knowing that I could find my own way upstairs.

I stopped for a second to take in the decor of the room; I've lived here for months, but haven't taken the time to admire this room. Laika's owners were much into the soviet space program, and many of the decorations reflected that. Fredrik was an Air Force pilot, whom recently got into the SSP. The new job nearly doubled his salary, and he finally got what he always wanted, for his wife to stop working and live easy. It was his code that his wife would never have to work; it was all up to the man of the house. But with the new house payments, and a decrease for use of Air Force pilots after the war, his wife had to take up a job of her own to help pay. Fredrik's involvement in the soviet space program led him to meet Laika, who was just a stray that the soviets picked up, and intended to use her for testing of prototypes, she would most likely become one of the hundreds of other strays who would die during testing of thermal controllers, food poisoning, machine malfunctions, or simply left to die when the scientists were done with them. Fredrik would not let it happen, and suggested something else. He took the dog home, and gave her a family and a cozy home to live in. After Laika returned to full health, Fredrik brought her back, and entered her in the soviet training facility. She was surprisingly docile and never fought with other dogs, or even seemed to complain about anything. The scientists told Fredrik of their decision to train her to become one of the first dogs to go onto space. He more than happily accepted it, though he was never told that it was likely a one-way trip.

I walked up the stairway, and noted the soft carpet below my paws. I continued to take in everything about this house until I reached the door to Laika's room that was already cracked open. The vet was still present, making final checks on the puppies and on Laika.

He smiled and looked around to see that her owners were not present, but the wolf dog was, so he said the news to him first, before walking down stairs.

"Ah, Balto. Laika and her puppies are healthy; the runt even seems very healthy given the circumstances." The vet told me, seemingly rehearsing his lines, as he knew that the dog could not understand him. But to his surprise, Balto jumped and barked happily at him and licked his hand. The vet chuckled and pet Balto on the head before heading out.

"Laika, er, Curls?" I asked softly.

"Balto, hi." Laika said with a shallow voice. I could tell that she was obviously exhausted, poor girl. She had been in labor all last night.

"Why are you awake, you should be resting, you've brought in new adorable faces into this world. You deserve a rest."

"I can rest easy now, knowing you're here to watch over them." She seemed to say with a hint of it being a question.

"Of course, Curls." I said, and noted her weak smile that she made every time I chose to call her by "my name for her".

I heard the sounds now, tiny whimpering coming from the other side of Laika. I walked around her to the other side of her small bed, and smiled at the sight before me.

There were four new faces, three female, and one, the smallest, was male. The little guy looked more wolf than I did, since he had much higher content than me. This pup didn't even resemble Laika much. I fell to my stomach; the pups were so cute, I just flopped down to the ground there and didn't care to get comfortable. I lay in front of them and touched my nose to one who was facing me. Such tiny bundles of life, born into bad circumstances, I only felt bad that they would grow up without a father.

"Balto? I'm not sleepy, well what do you think?" I heard Laika say with a laugh at the end.

"You did a good job, I guess. They're beautiful." I replied.

The smallest male inched his way to me and I was stunned at the cuteness before me. I watched him crawl over and sniff my paw, and then whimpered a bit before returning to Laika.

"Poor guy, growing up with all sisters, what If they are mean to him?" I joked to Laika.

"No way, I won't raise my girls that way. He will be their superior, their protector." She said proudly.

"Haha, good luck little guy."

"Balto, there is the inevitable thing we need to deal with. These puppies won't have the privilege of having a father." Laika said a few seconds later, she has obviously been thinking about that for a while.

"Yeah, damn that Yakov guy, I mean, how can a man walk out on his own children…" I said with hate in my words.

"Balto, I want you to listen." She said softly.

"I am Curls, always."

"I want you to be in their lives as much as I am. I want you to do what I can't do, you know, tell them stories, teach them to hunt, tell them right from wrong, and play sports with them. Basically, be the father they won't have." Laika seemed relieved to get that off of her chest.

"Curls, you know that won't be a problem. If that is what you want, then these puppies might as well be mine, I will raise them like my own… If I ever had kids of my own…" I said with slight sorrow at the end.

"These are your own; they are your family after-all." Laika said with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I returned her smile.

I was truly happy that Laika wanted me to be their "father", and no matter how it sounds, I would not turn my back on them, and I really will raise them as my own kids, as long as Laika allows it.

The male made his presence known, he began yipping already.

"Whoa there little guy, less than a few hours old and already trying to talk, amazing."

"Well he is more wolf than dog, Balto." Laika said, but I recognized happiness, rather than her usual reaction when anything wolf-related came up.

"So you've come to accept that you're part wolf, and so are your children? Good Curls!"

"Yeah, I always did, it's just... I wanted a normal life, you know? No offense, but look how you had to live. It's sad, and I regret every day that you had to be alone, but I didn't want that life for my puppies. Now it doesn't seem all that important." Laika explained. I smiled at her words, and her amazing reservoir of energy.

"Look at you, just gave birth to four puppies and you're sitting up and talking like nothing happened."

"I guess the wolf in me gives me strength." She said with her same smile.

"Ow, hey look, the little guy bit me already! He's got some teeth on him. Haha" I said with a chuckle as I looked at my left paw that he bit.

"Balto, I want you to name him." Laika blurted out of nowhere.

"What?" I replied stupidly.

"I want you to name my first born child. It'd mean a lot to me."

"Wow Curls, I… Don't know what to say." It was well known that naming the first born child was taken as a huge honor. I thought for only a few seconds, as I knew exactly what to call him.

"But I do have a name for him." I added.

I knelt down to nuzzle the little guy and instantly both I and Laika knew what I was going to call him.

"Kodiak." I said with a returned glare at Laika.

"Beautiful name, Balto. How long were you waiting to use that name?" She asked pretending like she didn't know.

"Heh, we always talk about it, me and Boris. I always loved the name, and hoped that if I ever had puppies of my own, then I would name one of them Kodiak."

*yawn" I think I am a little sleepy, I can barely keep my eyes open." Laika said.

"Of course you are, I'll stay here watching them, and you rest easy Kudry." I said in a caring tone.

"I love our weird family." She said as she turned her head around and drifted off to sleep.

"Weird is good, I love it too." I said softly and laid down besides the puppies, allowing them to sleep near me for warmth.

I began to grow more and more tired, with Kodi nibbling on my paw; it didn't hurt in the slightest, and instead was the cutest thing I've ever seen.

"I can't wait to see how you are when you're older, Kodi." I said quietly to him.

I looked over at Laika, she was breathing deeply, finally allowing herself to rest, and a thought popped up in my head, sad thoughts.

What if the Soviets chose her, and what if something went wrong on the mission?

* * *

Feburary, 1956

It's been almost two months and the puppies all have grown and were adopted by new families. Kodi on the other hand, stayed with me and Boris at the old boat. Unfortunately for the little guy, he looked too much wolf for the humans to trust him. But he didn't seem to care, he loved living with me and Boris, it felt like home to him, plus he didn't really like the idea of being "locked up in a house forever." How he put it.

The Humans did allow me to visit any time, but I after Kodi was old enough, and we all came to the sad conclusion that Kodi would not get adopted, we all lived on my boat for the time being.

Kodi was just eight weeks old when he asked the question that tore me and Laika apart, though we knew it would come eventually. I remember it always, and found it remarkably similar to how I was at his age.

"Papa, why don't the humans want me?"

I had to turn away and shake my head, it was happening, Kodi would be rejected from humans his entire life because of his wolf side. The poor fella doesn't even look that much like one.

His sisters looked like Laika, white, and light gray fur, they're beautiful faces matched Laika's but added more definition from their secret wolf content. To the Humans, they were simple Terrier/ Husky mixes.

Kodi, on the other hand, was almost a darker gray than I was, and developed long, sharp fangs much earlier than his sisters. The fact that he flinched in fear around humans, gave it away that he was more wolf than dog. One human even went far enough to try and force Laika's owners to kill him, but of course he barely got away without getting his butt kicked by Fredrik, and I probably would have jumped in and taken a snap at his legs too. Me and Laika talked about it, because the question was always one that could not be avoided. Where would Kodi live, if not with humans? But we both knew that I would happily accept him to live with me and Boris, and it allowed her to worry less about him.

I was too sad to tell him that he was half-wolf, as I probably wouldn't have been able to talk with a straight tone. Luckily, Laika knew just what to say at the right time.

"Son, you are special, the Humans don't want you because you have a magnificent uniqueness that your sisters don't have."

"What do you mean?" Kodi said in the highest, cutest voice. I still couldn't face him yet, and just imagined the look on his face.

"You are not fully a dog, your sisters aren't either, but you are lucky, you look like a wolf!"

This was it, Kodi would cry and it would make me resent my own wolf heritage even more now. I buried my face in the ground, not wanting to hear Kodi's innocent questions about why he was cursed with such a virus.

"Wow I'm part wolf? Awesome!" Kodi said enthusiastically, and jumped around his mother. I lifted my head and smiled but didn't turn back yet, I was proud of my son now. "My son…" Who am I kidding, he is my son, might as well be.

"Yeah, and you're going to grow up to be a big strong wolf, like me!" I said turning to him half-way through my sentence.

"I can't wait to tell everyone that I am part wolf!"

"Haha, well, I'm glad you're happy." I bent down to nuzzle him for a bit, I was proud that he embraced his wolf-side, and it actually made me a little ashamed of myself for ever resenting it.

"Well, Balto, watch over him, I'm going to go check on his sisters, to see if they're happy in their new homes."

"Alright Kudry, Kodi, want to come with me to my boat?"

"Yes! Yes!" Kodi repeated, and started jumping around me again. I loved the little guy, he reminded me of myself, well, plus 50 times the energy.

"Uncle Balto, I guess that is why we look the same, did you ever have humans?" Kodi asked curiously.

"Nah, the humans don't like wolves that much, they're jealous of our amazing abilities, both them, and the normal dogs."

"Wow, what abilities can I do?" He asked, and I winked back at him before stopping in my tracks.

I looked around first, noted that the town was at least a mile away, and my boat another four, but I couldn't wait to get further from the town.

I took a deep breath, and lifted my nose high into the air, and let out a loud, echoing howl into the dusk sky above me. I loved howling right now, having rarely ever using my wolf talents in my life, I found that it came natural to me. It was a bit angelic by the sound of it, smooth and even seemed to harmonize with the air around me.

I paused, and let out another howl, at a different pitch, and kept it for about 20 more seconds. Then I looked down at Kodi, and smiled at his stunned face.

"Whoa, that was amazing!" Kodi said, and tried his own turn at howling. He did pretty well, though it was a high pitched puppy howl that someone only 200 feet might not even hear.

"Haha, good job son, you'll soon be able to master the art of howling, and sing to the moon above, every full moon."

"I love being a wolf! What else can we do?"

"Well, we are much better than dogs, and actually, we are also better than wolves! We're hybrids, and take the best of both dogs and wolves." I stopped to let Kodi talk; he obviously had an expression that he had a question.

"What's a hybrid?" He said, trying to mimic the word that he has never heard before.

"It just means that you are a cross between two different species. Your father was half wolf, and so is your mother. That makes you as much wolf as them."

"Mom is a wolf too? Cool." Kodi said, though somewhat less excitedly.

"Yep, so, other than howling, we are faster, stronger, smarter, and better fighters than dogs. It comes naturally to us. We also get sick less often, and can handle the cold much better than dogs."

"Cool, it's like I have super-powers!"

"Of course, Super-Kodi."

I laughed and joked with him until we got to my old boat. Kodi would live here for the next few months, and as far as I was concerned, he could stay here forever, I wouldn't mind.

* * *

Spring, 1956

Today was a sad day for us, over the last six months; I've grown used to being with Laika for most of the time, and even living in a human house. But today was Laika's last day here, and she would return to the SSP today, a one thousand mile car trip to the southern soviet Baikonur Cosmodrome (Космодром Байконур). She would continue her training, as the deadline was nearing. The Soviets planned to launch the Sputnik I, in summer of next year, and the Sputnik II, the mission that Laika was training for, would launch sometime early winter that same year.

It was a harsh deadline, a little less than a full year to plan and launch two rockets into orbit? I suppose that's a testament to Soviet's ambition. I didn't know if I could leave my own family, this might be the last time I ever see Laika, and Kodi didn't want his mother to leave either.

"I'll miss you Curls, good luck in space…" I said.

"Balto, this isn't goodbye, I'll be back next year after they chose some other dog to do it."

"No, I want you to do your best, they have to choose you, and you'll go down in history. I couldn't be much more proud." I said with my mood slightly elevated.

"I'll… miss you Balto." She said, and then moved in to hug me. I kept my head held high, fighting back tears, as Laika cried into my chest.

"You go and knock them dead, Curls, or should I say, Laika." I said

"Call me Curls, please? It's your name for me, and I will always cherish it." She said, I looked down at her soft face, and I saw the same puppy I watched grow up in this town all those years ago. She had asked me the same thing six months ago, and I called her Laika to test it out. She had not changed, and I was happy about that.

"Curls. Little Kudry, my only family." I said and held her tight.

"I'm not anymore; my kids are your family." She said a little aggressively.

"Ha, I know. I suppose Kodi will live with me forever." I joked.

"He loves you, you know. Whenever I ask him about you, he always speaks so fondly of you."

"I know, I love the little guy too. He's seemed to have found my weakness; I can never deny a puppy a story or two when they asked."

"My humans aren't leaving for another hour or so, can we go back to your boat and you can tell me one last story?" She said with a sniffle.

"Of course, Curls." I said, a futile effort to resist, after all, I could not turn away a puppy who wanted a story.

"Kodi, come now boy, I've got one last story to tell."

"What do you mean dad? Last story? Oh no!"

"Dad?" Laika asked me with a smile on her face.

"Uh, ahem*, hah Yeah, he's started calling me dad since he learned to talk. I didn't have the heart to tell him that his dad left him before he was born. But I'm sure he knows that I'm his uncle, not his father."

"Of course I know." Kodi said, seemingly picking up my words from across the alleyway.

"Balto is your father, maybe not by genetics, but by character." Laika told Kodi with a smile in my direction.

"Well let's get home, son, I have a story to tell you and your mother." I looked at Laika when I called Kodi my son, and she had a relieved face again, as if happy that I so closely accepted Kodi as my own.

We walked together towards the old trawler, me and Laika listened to Kodi's crazy, and over-exaggerated rendition of a previous story I told him. We laughed as the puppy in-between us jumped and moved his head to help tell the story. I could not be more proud of my son, even if he was not my son.

When we got to the boat, I was happy to see that Boris was there already, and asked him to come and sit with us as I told them "THE story". We called it "the story", the one about the time I saved a little boy from drowning, and nobody has ever heard this story before.

Boris caught on, and instantly joined us, obviously anxious to tell someone of my heroic deed from all those years ago.

"So, guys I've got a story, it's a true story, like all of the ones I tell." I winked at Kodi, who knew as well as me that some of the better stories were made up, but he loved them just the same.

"A true event that happened four years ago, when I was just a puppy, not much older than you, Kodi. It was before Curls was even born, and I had just recently been able to hunt on my own without Boris needing to be there for me, haha."

I paused for a second, to re-collect my memory. The event happened so long ago, and for a second I was reminded just how old I actually am. I didn't care though; I had a family now, even if it isn't mine, its good enough. The three of them sat and listened in on my story, I haven't even gotten to the river yet, when three more dogs joined us.

"Well if it isn't my sisters…" Kodi said playfully.

"Hi mom, hey… Balto." The middle one said for all three of them. They obviously weren't as accepting of me being their "Father" as Kodi did. But deep down I liked to believe that they loved me just as I loved them.

"Hey girls, I'm telling a story to these guys before your mom… goes on an adventure." I said, I didn't want to scare them, telling them that their mother might be going into space.

"Cool! I've got time for a story!" The same middle one said excitedly, and the other two, who seemed to always stick to either side of her and rarely say a word, agreed and sat down next to their mother. Laika nuzzled her daughters for a bit and they returned it.

"Now, where was I at…"

"The scream!" Kodi bursted out.

"Haha, yeah. So I ran towards the direction of this terrible scream, Boris popped out of nowhere and asked me where I was going so fast. I really was running faster than I've ever ran before."

All 12 eyes were locked on my face, all 12 ears were locked on my words, and my entire family was here now. It's been so long since I've seen Laika's daughters, since they have moved on and have human owners of their own, I've started to see less and less of them.

I told them every bit of detail about the story, as I recalled it so vividly as if it happened just this morning. I told them it was a dream that warned me of the event, but as I said this, I recalled my dream from the day of the pup's Birth…

* * *

1957.

I continued staring, staring to the planet with Billions of inhabitants below me. I wondered how many of them were watching my bright speck in the sky as it lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. I could follow my smoke trail as it pointed to the southern tip of the Soviet territory.

"I hope the soviets know what they're doing."

"Natic-four-seven." I heard an English man say over my radio, it was almost like he replied to my concern. A man replied to him in Russian, and replayed my status. I was glad to be able to understand someone for once.

He said that thermal protection was ripped away along with the thermal control core, which was meant to keep my cabin temperature stable. He said that I'd be fine until… I couldn't make out the rest; the curvature of the earth was preventing a direct line of sight from Soviet Russia now. I would soon fly over America. I had always wondered what America was like, from the stories that Boris told me over the years of his visits to it. He's only ever been to Alaska and Canada though. I watched below me and noted out the Pacific Ocean. I was told that my capsule would re-enter the earth and land safely in somewhere off the coast of Australia. I wanted to believe the dog who said it, I really did. But I knew it wasn't going to happen that way.

* * *

1956, fathers by character.

I walked slowly to my boat, followed by Kodi and Boris. My head was low to the ground, and I didn't say a word. I walked to the edge of the deck and sat there, looking off into the distant sunset. I could look down the long road that Laika and her owners would soon follow, and wondered if that road even had an end. It seemed to extend to reach the sun itself.

"She will go down in history." I said to myself, hiding my sadness.

"What do you mean, dad?" Kodi said from behind me. It hurt when he called me dad, it hurt to have to lie to him these past few months.

"Kodi. First of all, you know my name, Balto. Right?" I said as I turned to him. I couldn't keep my words at a constant tone, I didn't want to break him down right now, as his mother will soon leave, and might not come back.

"Of course I know your name."

"Then I'd suggest you call me Balto, or uncle Balto. Kodi, I'm sorry, but I am not your true father, and you shouldn't call me dad." I turned away now, having just ruined the boys chances of having someone to call "dad".

"I just like calling you dad. You're more of a father than anyone else. Plus, when exactly did Boris have this same conversation with you?" He said, and at that second both me and Boris froze and stared at each other. I was surprised by this pup's wise accusation, although it wouldn't take much brain power to realize that there was no way a snow goose was the biological father of a wolf-dog.

"I'm sorry son, forget I ever brought it up. I guess I am your father, if not biologically, then by character." I said, mimicking Laika's remarks.

"And I can say same that for you son." Boris said to me.

"Well just look at us. Father, son and grandson, all in one weird adoptive chain."

"Weird; but weird is good. We are weird wonderful family." Boris said as he wrapped his long wings around me and Kodi.

"I love you son." I said as I nuzzled Kodi.

"Yeah, I love you too, Balto." Kodi said, and a look on his face said that it was a joke calling him by his name.

"Now enough mushy mushy, we should go and see Laika off. She will be doing great things, and if she is picked..." I signaled Boris to stop, and panicked a bit, hoping that he wouldn't finish the sentence.. Kodi did know that his mother might be chosen to go to space, what he didn't know is that it was almost surely a one-way trip.

"If she's picked, she'll go down in history." I finished Boris's sentence for him, as the goose seemed to freeze in place.

"I can't wait for her to get back; I wonder what it will be like to go into space! I hope she can bring back souvenirs."

"I hope so too, son." I said, and had to turn away, so that Kodi didn't see the intense sorrow that was plastered over my face.

_How do you tell a boy that his mother was going to die?_


	4. Chapter 4

**Note, I am uploading these chapters quickly for a reason... I will add chapter 5 tomorrow, so that means 3 chapters in a period of less than 2 days. Wow.**

**I'm "cleaning out" the chapters for this story, and uploading all of what I've got so far.**

**Why?**

**I am going to focus on "Forgive Thy Enemy" now, and another upcoming project. If you like Fantasy and Adventure, my next Balto story will be one that you can't wait for.**

* * *

1957

It's been about two hours now; the Pacific Ocean was closing at fast speeds, and as Far East as I could see, the tip of America, California. I tried to get up and move closer, but something was wrong, my paws didn't move me, instead , they just swept nothing and I fell on my face, or did I? I was falling, but very slowly, and a split second later, when my instincts caught on, I threw my front paws down before me, to lessen the impact. But I wasn't falling, instead my paws pushed the ground, and it sent me rushing up towards the curling of the cabin.

"Wow, so this is weightlessness." I thought as I gently bumped into the ceiling. My harness, and the instruments that were strapped onto my body, were not supposed to come off, but I didn't care. I was going to die on this mission, and I was going to at least enjoy my last few hours. I tore apart the single restraint that crossed my chest, and snapped a few wires on accident.

"Uh-oh" I thought. I didn't want to disable the vest, I meant to put it back on eventually, but now the lights tried off in it.

I could hear voices on my radio piece, and sighed, happily that it was still functional. I barked into it, knowing they could not hear me, that it was a one-way speaker. But to my surprise, I heard cheers, and a voice confirming that I was alive to a crowd, that once again cheered. I figured they probably had a hidden microphone or camera in here somewhere.

I smiled, so many people depended on this mission, I remembered why I was here in the first place, Laika would not want me to mess this up, if I was going down, I would at least do the mission right.

* * *

1956, troubled lady.

All three of us walked off the boat and headed over to Laika's house. She'd want us to be there to see her off, for she knew that it might have been the last time.

"Hey Kodi, forget about what I said earlier, call me dad, and call uncle Boris, uh, uncle Boris. Call us that as much as you can in front of your mother, she loves it. I will call you son, son."

"Haha, no problem dad." Kodi said with a smile.

"I can see the beacon of happiness on her face, knowing that you might have a father to grow up with after-all."

"I do, you're my dad, not that scumbag Yakov."

"Hey, he might be a deadbeat, but after all... Oh who am I kidding, he is a scumbag."

"He walked out on us, walked out on my mom. As far as I'm concerned, you're my papa, I love you the same."

"Good kiddo. Laika would have happy thoughts in her head while she's off training."

"Speaking of father, I want you to call me dad too, Balto." Boris said from the left, when I looked to him he smiled and started laughing.

"Yeah sure, dad" I said.

We walked around the last set of buildings, and something caught us by surprise, the car was already gone...

"No, they left already? It can't be!" I said, and ran off in front of Kodi and Boris. I scratched at the door crazily, and finally Katja answered, and only let me in, but closed the door and returned to the couch. I sniffed the air to get my answer, Laika and Fredriks' scents were absent.

"Balto, come here boy." Katja said from the living room. Her voice made my heart drop; she was sad, and crying. I lowered my head and walked over to her, expecting a pet or scratch on the head, instead she fell to the floor and hugged me tight. She was broken down, and I licked her head - not being able to lick anywhere else since she was holding me so tight - to comfort her.

This was new to me, when she held me; I felt new emotions and instincts. I felt like I belonged here and that Katja was now part of my pack. I would protect her from any and all dangers. "What the heck am I thinking?" I thought I was going crazy. She held her arms around my neck for a few more seconds, before finally speaking.

"Oh, Balto. I'm so sorry you had to live out in the cold all these years, you can stay here forever." When she said that, I was both happy, and sad, because I knew why she wanted me here so bad.

She knew Laika might not come back.

I licked her head again to show that I understood, and she released me and returned to the couch and flipped through the channels on the picture box. What an odd machine, it makes such terrible noises. I wondered I the humans could hear the piercingly high-pitched spam sound that it emitted (They could not). She stayed quiet for a while, not looking at me, so I laid down and my paws for a bit, figured I'd leave when she stopped crying. About five minutes passed, and before I started to fall asleep, she finally spoke, after clearing her nose. Her voice was finally normal, gentle feminine voice, and calm as ever.

"I'm sorry, I am just sad to see Laika off. When she left, I felt like my only child was leaving off to college forever." She explained. Not caring that it was a dog she was talking to, but I showed her that I understood, and walked over and placed my head on the couch beside her.

"You can come here anytime you want, I'll make sure you never go hungry or cold again. But you don't have I stay locked up here if you don't want to." She said as she rubbed my head.

I finally had a home of some type, though I wouldn't leave the boat, I'd just come over to visit, and take her up on offers of food sometimes.

I was sad about Laika too, so I yipped quietly to signal that I was leaving, and walked over to the stairs. I looked at her one more time, and saw that she watched me walk to the stairs, knowing that I was going to Laika's old room. She shook her head to prevent more crying, and returned to watching the noisy box.

I walked up stairs, and pushed the door open. An empty room was all I got, it still had her smell, and it was still fresh. She was here just an hour ago. I didn't know why, but I pulled my head back, and let out a loud howl. It sounded sad, like I had just lost a member of my pack, and then mentally scolded myself for letting my wolven instincts take control of me again. I tried to cut it off, but only could once the door bursted open. I starred at Katja, embarrassed; it must have been loud, since I just howled inside her home... She looked at me and I saw tears return. I expected her to remember that I was a wolf, and kick me out, but instead she pat me again and walked around the room.

"You miss her too boy, I know." She hid her tears well

"That was beautiful by the way, I have never heard a wolf howl before, and stupid me just realized that you were half wolf. I knew Laika had wolf in her, but she never howled even once." She said.

I picked up Laika's blanket and brought it over to her.

"Ah, this was actually a gift, a baby shirt that was given to me for my baby shower two years ago." I frowned right away, as I put all the pieces together. This lady was strong; she should be crying her eyes out, because I was on the verge myself. I knew exactly what happened. And she explained it to me, seemingly noticing my change in behavior I a sadder one.

"Yeah, two years ago me as Fredrik were happy, I was six months pregnant with our first child, and my friends and family threw together a big baby shower for us. We got many gifts, but two weeks later..." She paused, and I responded by licking her hand to continue.

"Well, it was bad news of course." She said unexpectedly. She had obviously gotten over it long ago, and could probably joke about it now. What terrible thoughts I was having...

"It was a miscarriage, and then the doctor told me that I was unable to have kids of my own." She seemed relieved to tell someone, even I that someone was a dog.

I could only do what I did best, and lick her again to comfort her.

"You're a good dog Balto; Fredrik always saw that in you. We talked about you once, when we first got Laika, and how you two were actually related. The soviets took her from this very town and unknowingly to us; you were the long lost uncle of the stray that we kept." She said as she scratched my ears.

She stopped and sat in the chair at the corner if the room, reading something, it looked like important papers, it was in English, and from what Boris taught me to read, I think I was old adoption papers for Laika.

I walked around a bit, exploring the rather large room that they seemed to dedicate to their dog. I pulled a toy out from under a pile of old clothes the was now used as a place for Laika to rest, and Katja turned to watch me as I placed the toy gently down in Laika's bed. Only when I took in more if the room, did I finally noticed the wallpaper, it was a colorful -well colorful to a dog, who could only see shades of red and green - and had funny looking cute characters drawn onto them. They looked like it was from a TV show aimed at babies and toddlers. I looked to the corner and noticed what I thought was just a table, was actually an old crib that they used now to hang clothes on. It made me sad, as I knew this room must have been dedicated to their child, if it ever made it to life. I whimpered in sorrow when I sniffed the crib.

"Yep, you've got it. This room was supposed to be a nursery for my child. We bought a bigger house when I found out I was pregnant, poor Fredrik took up a second job just to save up for the down payment. Hah, he has no problem paying ten times the bills now." She said, but it didn't even use any hint of sadness. I, on the other hand, felt terrible for her. I don't know how I would react if I prepared this much for my child, only to be told that the child would never be born.

"In going back down, my show is coming on. You be good in here now, Balto." She said, and then pat me on the head before slipping out the door and downstairs quickly. This room was a bit depressing, not only was it designated for a lost human child, it was again, designated for a lost dog, whom to Katja, was her child.

* * *

1957, breed for the cold, not like this.

I had fun jumping from wall to wall in my tiny 5 by 5 by 10 foot cabin. Then I stopped at the window, grabbing onto a metal handle with my teeth. When I stopped moving, I took in the scene before me. It was America, full and true, I could see from New York to California, all from this very window. Half of the country was night now, as the sun was faded from a low light in California, to pitch black darkness around the Midwest of the country. I looked over at New York area, and what I saw was not pitch black, all of the north-eastern seaboard was lighted with billions if sparkling lights from the many miles of street lights that connected the major cities in the area. All of America dark, except for the lights that makes out cities and highways connecting them. It was amazing, I've always wanted to visit America, and here I am, seeing the entire country before me as I floated 150 miles above it. I sighed in relief, finally calm in this capsule in space. My heartbeat and blood pressure was normal now, but the people on the ground would not know it, since I destroyed the instruments that were meant to report it.

"Sucks for them." I thought, I knew what this mission was for, and soon the main event of it would occur.

When I exhaled, I saw it condense into liquid and it was like back home, when the temperature went below 30 degree, which - for northern Siberia - was almost year-round. I started shivering, for a dog that had both wolf and husky genes, it was really starting to get cold in here. I looked at the thermal control part of the cabin, next to the fan, and saw that it was reading a temperature of -3 degree Celsius.

"24 degrees Fahrenheit" I thought to myself. Boris raised me on America's measurements, but also taught me how to convert Russia's into standard units. Once again I thanked him for that. After looking outside for just ten seconds, I looked back at the thermometer; it read -7 C now. It was getting cold, and fast. The sun was gone from the sky, so I figured the deathly cold from outside was seeping into my cabin.

"Oh crap." I said. I barked into my radio piece, figuring that they might have heard me, but then remembered that I was almost in the other side of the world from my homeland.

"What will I do once the temperature gets lower?" I thought. The temperature now, was nothing. I've braced -70 F before in my hometown, and slept just fine under a thin blanket, which froze almost solid by morning. I looked around, seeing what I could change, any levers I could flip, buttons I could press, not much. I was not trained to do anything but sit here and be monitored. Ha. As if I would stand by and do nothing. I pushed off the window and soared to the other side, it was much warmer here, odd. I found the source of the heat; it was coming from a pipe that almost burned my paw when I felt it. I huddled close to this pipe, as the thermometer across the cabin was nearing -30 c now... It was getting cold fast.

* * *

1956, late night howl.

I woke up in Laika's bed, and barely remembered that I had fallen asleep here. I thought about Kodi and Boris waiting for me outside, and figured that they returned to the boat b now. I looked outside the window, the sky was dark. I got up, and walked around the darkened room, and made out the figure of a clock on the table beside the window. Boris taught me how to tell the time, and that there were 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, and 60 seconds in a minute. I counted the lines that the hands passed, and after a while, made of oh to be around 2 am.

"I shouldn't have fallen asleep so early. . ." I thought. I looked around, and found a stable place to jump on, i wanted to look outside and maybe see if Kodi and Boris were at my boat. I figured that there was only one way up; it was the same table with the clock on it. I briskly jumped up and tried my hardest not to fall. I didn't make that much noise, until I knocked over Laika's old metal bowl. It fell to the hardwood ground with a loud noise. Then I heard Katja get up in the next room. "Crap" I said. After I broke out of being frozen, I turned to jump, but the door opened and Katja walked in and saw me on the table.

"Balto, what are you doing up there? Nothing for you to hunt in here." She said with a chuckle.

"You must be hungry for a late night snack. I'll get you something. She walked over and picked up Laika's bowl, and pulled out a bag of dog food from the cabinet below. Over the last few months, I've gotten used to eating dog food. I knew it wasn't healthy for a wolf to eat such low protein content food that was meant for dogs, who didn't need the extra nutrients, so I still ate a nice amount of meat at least once every week. She poured me a big bowl and put it in front of me, still standing on the table. She didn't seem to mind.

"Eat up now; you look like skin and bones!" She said, and I noticed the motherly tone in her voice. It made me comfortable, but at the same time, filled me with sorrow that it wasn't her child she was talking to. I finished the food quickly, but I knew about humans and their manners, so I ate as neatly as possible. She walked over now, and opened the window that I wanted to look out of. Cool Siberian air filled the room quickly, but I didn't bother either of us. She pulled something out of her pocket, a cigarette and lit it. Sun a terrible smell, I was at a loss for why humans wanted to breathe in such disgusting chemicals. I could smell everything that was in the smoke, and none of it was good for you. I ignored it, and walked over to the window will from the table and sat by her. There, the town was asleep, and off into the distance I could see my boat. I couldn't see Boris or Kodi, so I walked a bit forward and sampled the air.

"What amazing creatures you are. I bet you could smell my husband and Laika miles away by now."

We both knew I couldn't smell that far away, but I acted like I tried it, for her sake.

"Haha, Balto. No way you could pick them up this far." She said with a laugh, and scratched me on my head. I barked, seemingly arguing with her, and she just continued smiling.

"Balto look outside, it's a full moon." She said, and I knew what she was hinting at.

"Howl for me Balto. Stick your head outside and not give a damn what anyone else thinks." She added.

I liked this lady's attitude, but there were people sleeping, resting for the day tomorrow. I took a second to listen, but the town was actually not silent, there was a big party somewhere across town, and in-between, I could hear people outside, enjoying themselves, some BBQ'ing, some just drinking and enjoying company of friends and family.

"Well, if I won't be bothering people too much." I thought, as I looked to her. It was almost like she read what I just thought.

"Then do it!" She said excitedly.

I smiled to let her know that I will do as she asked. After all, I wanted to howl at the moon as much as she wanted me too. I walked over to the edge of the table, and carefully crossed the small gap, and sat at the window edge, half of my body would not be where it was if the window was not open, as it was built somewhat at an angle. I could look straight up, and saw that the moon was not all that light up the night sky. The northern lights were there, dancing, bright and vibrant as ever. It was beautiful, as many times as I've seen them over the years, it never ceases to amaze me. Katja balanced her head on her arms, with elbows supported on the window platform next to me. She looked at me, as I waiting for something. "Eh, why not." I thought.

I took a deep breath, and pointed my nose high in the air, and let loose.

I let out a long and powerful howl, one that would reach a dozen miles away. I paused and took another breath, and continued, at a lower pitch. I kept the same pitch for half a minute and finally lowered my head and closed my mouth. I felt like a huge weight was lifted from my mind, and replaced by happiness. Katja didn't say a word yet, and continued staring at me, then turned her head to stare outside.

"Beautiful. I don't mind living with a wolf, you guys are amazing creatures, and much more well-mannered than dogs." She joked.

Katja yawned and stretched her arms high, obviously still tired.

"Well in going back to bed, thanks Balto, you sleep well now." She rubbed my head then walked off, leaving the door cracked open in case I wanted to leave.

"Sleep?" No way I can sleep. I was still sad, I mean, my only family was leaving and might bit come back. I thought for a while, and figured that I needed a plan. I could not let my niece die on this mission...

I had just laid down on Laika's old bed, but I shot up instantly. I wondered if Kodi and Boris were awake.

I figured I should go talk to them, ask what they thought about my plan, and tell me if I was crazy or not. So I shoved my muzzle to the door and forced it open, the hallway was still lit, as Katja had seemed to leave the lights on for me. I quietly walked out, and even quieter when I passed her room, then wondered downstairs. When I reached the living room, I enjoyed the soft, warm carpet for a few more seconds before heading out. It was dark down here, the only light source seeping through from the upstairs hallway, but only when I looked at the front door did I realize, and also remembered, that they did not have a dog door for Laika, as she simply scratched the door when she wanted out.

"Crap..." I thought, and snapped a bit at the air to the right I me. Ever second I'm trapped here, Laika nears her death...

"I guess I'll have to wait until morning... It's about three am; she should wake up in five hours or so." I thought. Instead of walking back upstairs to rest in Laika's bed, I stayed down here and sunk into the main rug in the center of the room. It was amazingly soft, like the furs of puppies. I had to mentally assured myself that the rug was not really made of puppies.

I laid my head on my front paws, staring into nothing, for all five hours. I thought about everything, how Laika would not deserve such a fate, who would miss her, Kodi, her three daughters, and Boris, Katja and Fredrik. More importantly, I would miss her over-all. I lay there, two hours now, thinking more, how the puppies still needed her guidance, how she would find love again in the future, and maybe have pups again, and this time, hopefully, they will have a real father to call their own. Another hour passed by, I started thinking about my earliest memories about Laika, back when she was just a pup, and I wasn't far from being one myself. I only learned about my lost relative, after she was adopted by Katja and Fredik. She had grown up on the very same streets I have, but I never saw her before. I first met her when she was five months. Ha, at the time, you wouldn't know it, since she was tiny for her age and looks. Even though Laika was only part wolf, and part husky, she had the appearance of a husky-wolf hybrid, but was tiny like her Terrier part dictated. She told me that her brothers and sisters would pick on her, because she was always the smallest one, and the one that did not look like them, who were simply Terrier mutt puppies to the humans. She wasn't adopted along with her siblings, and was simply abandoned by her family. They all moved away, all except for her father, my brother. Laika was on her own though, something happened to my brother, long before I even knew Laika existed. Over the years, it has simply never been brought up exactly what happened to him.

I sighed and turned my head over, laying it to the left of my paws now. All this thinking was doing was convincing me to do something crazy. And everything else was just making me sad.

Laika _can't_ go in this mission...

* * *

**"What does this shit have to do with Balto while he is in space? It's like I'm reading two different stories!" Understood response.**

**The way I'm writing this is a bit weird but it my first try at an alternate setting for the story. The way I'm doing this, is that both points of view will "meet up" eventually, with the 1955-1956 parts leading up to the 1957 launch. We will eventually get to Jenna. This story will be a long one, so you don't have to worry about that.**

**I also love writing "caring scenes" like these, and loving family moments, and bonds between a human and a certain wolf-dog. I didn't grow up with the best family, and have literally ZERO extended-family contact, so writing about loving adoptive fathers, or Balto comforting a woman while she's lost her child and her dog, makes me happy.**

**This story won't be updated for a while, sorry. In the meantime, look out for Forgive Thy Enemy. Or, if you haven't already, you really need to read Blue Moon » by MajorBalto243. He's constantly updating it, and it's well worth a read. Check out my story, or his, or BOTH!  
**

**Balto lives on, he don't need no Universal or Amblin.**

**See ya!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's the last of what I've written so far, it was snipped, at just under 4,000 words. There was another Balto in space scene at the end of it, but I decided to cut it out and have it begin Chapter 6.**

**Sorry to those following, and probably have three emails regarding this story, but like I said, I'm uploading everything I've got, and no longer have a back-log, or even a start on Chapter 6.**

**I'm going to work on my other project, and Chapter 7 of Forgive Thy Enemy.**

* * *

1957, Mind is a terrible thing to fight.

-52 C. All I could hear was my teeth chattering, and the rest of my cabin bending and churning in this terrible cold. It was near past the coldest night I have ever encountered. Any part of my body that was not within 6 inches of the pipe was frozen. Moisture on the windows froze, and I it worried me a bit, because I knew that glass didn't hold up well in such temperature extremes.

"S-so cold... Must... go on..." I repeated, several hundred times. I could not believe how cold it was in here, and could only imagine how cold it was just feet away in the absence of outer space. The thermometer was across the room; far from receiving any heat from this pipe, and it read -54 C now. I sighed, but all it did was condense in front of my face, reminding me of how cold it really was. I started hallucinating, hearing voices, maybe the cold was getting to me, and I was going crazy. I knew the cabin was silent; all except for a low pitched him that came from the rockets below me. But it was not quiet. The voices were getting louder and louder, echoing throughout my very mind. It almost drove me insane. They were calling my name, cheering me on as I stepped out of the spaceship that landed in the Pacific Ocean, Ha. As if that was going to happen.

I closed my eyes hard and covered my ears with my paws, something was defiantly wrong, as my left law refused to obey me. It looked a bit discolored and right then did I start panicking. Apparently while I was warming up by this pipe, my left arm lost circulation, and fell asleep. That was not a good thing to happen with temperature like this. Quickly, I moved the lifeless arm over to the pipe, and accidentally touched it. I flinched, by I didn't feel pain.

"Oh, no, this is bad, this is bad!" I panicked in my mind. I started barking now, howling, to nobody.

Half an hour passed now, temperature at -64 C now. I still did not move, with my ears covered and my left arm finally starting to wake up, and beginning the painful recovery of an arm that fell asleep, then froze, and was now returning to normal. The voices never stopped, and I started recognizing some of them. Laika's voice stood out above the rest. Her English-Russian accent was a god send in a time like this. I remembered her words, and memorized them, since she repeated then to me hundreds of times.

I shook my head now, adding whimpering to my crazy reactions to the burst of stimuli that seemed to be embedded into my very brain.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"STOP! STOP! STOP!" I repeated several times, screaming at nothing. The cold was no longer bothering me, even though it was nearby -70 C now.

"STOP! STOP! STOP!" I screamed. The voices were still louder than me. I barked and howled, and screamed some more.

"I... I GOTTA GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" I screamed, and jumped at the window. I didn't care that going outside meant instant-death, I just wanted out. I ran into the window, slowly, as the lack of gravity prevented any type of traction that I could use to force myself at it. I cried at my failed attempt at breaking it, and beat at it more, but all it did was force me in the opposite direction. It was cold here, so I wondered back to the pipe and huddled in fear. The voices only carried on, chanting my name, saying things in Russian, English, and many other languages I didn't understand. A song could be heard throughout the voices, they called me "muttnik".

"STOP... stop... Please." I said calmly, I still held my eyes closed, and didn't allow tears to escape, wife they just froze anyway. I had my paws pressed against my ears, and I was huddled in between my back legs, in a tight ball.

"STOP... STOP..." I repeated hundreds of times more. For another full hour, I endured it. The voices were now accompanied by a high pitch ringing noise to add in top of it.

I was muttering like a crazy person, saying names of the people I loved. Kodi, Laika, Boris, Katja and Fredrik. I called to them for help, wishing desperately for their reply. Nothing. I realized that there was one name I forgot. Jenna. When I said her name, the voices changed a bit, and hers, above all could be heard.

"STOP... Jenna... What is this?" I screamed at first, but changed my mind when I heard Jenna's calm voice.

"You were never supposed to survive this..." She said eerily, like she was the devil. Not the Jenna I knew. She repeated it a hundred times over, I rocked back and forth now, which just made me spin slowly in the cabin. I started crying again, as I yelled.

"Stop... Stop... St-" just then, a loud sound resonated over the voices. Across my cabin, a machine on the wall opened up and put food in a bowl, the gelatinous food that I had been trained to eat was dispensed and stuck to the bowl. The voices froze, and there was nothing but silence. They had faded away completely with nothing but a faint echo for a few seconds.

"Thank god, oh man, thank somebody." I said, though I was still breathing very heavily.

"Thank god it's over." Only when I walked over to eat the food did I notice something, there was a camera, and a microphone. But t was hidden behind a metal frame that was now uncovered by the machine that opened the door for food.

"They were watching me the entire time..." I thought. I finished the gelatinous food, which, to me was the best thing I've ever eaten. The thermometer was showing good news too. For whatever reason, the cabin was now -43 c and was climbing slowly. I walked over to the vest that floated to the corner of the cabin, and tried my best to slip into it. The lights and machines turned back on...

"Hmm. I guess i didn't break it, maybe it was supposed to turn off when I took it off." I thought.

The machines started beeping and measured my heart rate and blood pressure. But only when a sound came from my radio piece, did I jump.

Loud cheers and applause came from it, and a Russian and English man were talking to the crowd. I could hear him loud and clear. I smiled as I listened in on them talking to me.

"In what our scientists predicted, the dog did have a hard time when the ship passed through the pocket of magnetism surrounding or planet. The poor fella was suffering acute paranoia and schizophrenia. He would have heard voices calling him, and terribly loud noises in his very brain. What you saw here was a typical reaction, and the dog did nothing that he wasn't supposed to do. He found warmth, and I pray for his survival as he will soon be traveling for 4 hours in direct sunlight. God speed mystery dog. God speed." The Russian man said. I smiled, they knew it wasn't Laika in here, calling me "mystery dog." I continued listening, thankful that I could hear normal voices now.

A reporter asked a question.

"Chief, rumors are going around that it was indeed a different dog, and not Laika, who went on this mission. Is this true?"

I heard the room get quiet, and to me, the rain static was all I could hear.

"No." I heard the man finally respond. I couldn't see it, but he had a huge smile on his face when he lied to the press. This led to a huge roar of the crowd asking questions.

The English man spoke now.

"Back to the topic on hand, Laika had proved that life in space is possible. We'd need only a protective barrier against the intense magnetism of earth, so we do not suffer what this dog has went though." I smiled a bit, thankful that I could help future space travelers not have to endure the same torture I had.

"To confirm your analysis, the thermal controller was indeed disabled, and the temperatures in the cabin lowered to nearly -70 degrees Celsius. Our prayers were with the dog, which appears to be of Husky, and part wolf origin. He was bred for the cold on both sides, and he survived well in the sub-Siberian temperatures. He's discovered a waste runoff pipe from the main rocket boosters, which is carrying 800 degree ignited fuel through them. With the insulation around the pipe, it can be noted they it won't burn the poor fella." Ha, that was a lie, I nearly singed my fur when I touched it, and though I was great up for the warmth it delivered.

"Chief, can the dog hear us right now? Look at him. He seems to be listening to us on his radio piece."

I froze, knowing that this entire room was probably staring at a video feed coming from the camera. I looked over to it and barked, then afterwards I heard more cheers.

"I guess that's a big yes. Good boy mystery dog, you're doing just fine up there." I barked again, and looked at the temperature; it was -5 C and climbing slowly.

"We down here at the NASA-HOUSTON Command Center wish our foreign Russian conrad luck up there in space. God speed muttnik, god speed." The English man said, then with that, the radio price cut off.

"So those were Americans, and they intercepted the ships' radio transmissions. They're good guys." I thought.

I walked over to the window, to get some kind of placement. The window was still a bit frosted, but would melt soon. I was almost directly above New York now, the next phase of the plan would happen any second now...

* * *

1956, a ride for life.

I awoke... Wait I fell asleep? I didn't remember it, but I was sleeping on the same rug I the same living room. I used my senses now, I heard, and smelled Katja in the kitchen, cooking breakfast. Then I looked at the window, it was a bright blue that signified it was morning. "Wow so I guess I did fall asleep." I said.

I got up and yawned as I stretched, pulling my front arms far in front of me, and sticking my tail high in the air. Then I walked towards the kitchen to meet Katja.

"Oh, morning Balto." She said, and then returned to cooking. I turned my head at an angle; she was smiling, and sounded happy. She reached over and I heard a click, when she turned off the stove top. She brought the pan to the table and picked some if it into her plate, then another plate. Why two plates? I wondered. Then I heard another female voice from the bathroom.

"I can smell your delicious cooking in the shower Katja." The mystery voice said with a laugh.

"Come eat, we have things to do!" Katja replied happily.

I whimpered a bit in confusion, but Katja froze and stared at me with her smile.

"You hungry boy?" She asked, changing the subject, well there was no subject, as I didn't exactly ask her why she was so happy.

She seems to peer into the hallway to make sure her friend was not coming yet, then she grabbed two proceed of bacon from her plate and threw them to me with a giggle.

I smiled and ate them quickly, then walked up to her just as the other lady came into the kitchen.

"Holy crap!" She gasped and stepped back, but smiled and looked at us.

"Balto is a big dog, and he looks like a wolf! Scared the Herbert's out of me."

"Nah, Balto wouldn't hurt a fly. Come eat, Marci."

"Fine fine, just fixing my hair." She said and came to sit down.

"Wow, Balto sure is beautiful though, I love dogs, but always feared that wolves were vicious man-eaters." She said with a laugh as she picked up a bite of food.

I barked softly and quickly walked to her to lick her leg.

"Oh! He picked my leg haha!" She jumped, I had intended to surprise her, but she was a little more jumpy than expected.

"Haha, yeah. Balto is the nicest dog around, and he is only half dog." Katja explained in-between bites. They were both eating fast, for why? I didn't know.

"I have to get his food before we leave, Marci. Keep him company; I'll be right back from upstairs.

"Okay." Marci replied, the continued eating.

"Psst balto, Katja thinks I don't know her tricks, heehee" she said whispering, then she grabbed two bacon strips, exactly like Katja did to her, from her plate and gave them to me, then she quickly snapped back around to pretend like nothing happened. Again, I ate them fast, bacon was delicious.

"Aha!" We both heard Katja yell from upstairs.

Then she walked down with a bowl of food in a new metal bowl.

"I found a bowl just for you boy, here you go." Then she quickly placed it down in front of me and continued eating her food.

I bowed to her, and got a surprise reaction from Marci, as I seemingly had manners, then I quietly and generally ate my food from the bowl.

"Wow, this dog is so well-mannered." Marci said.

"I guess that's how wolves are." She replied, before quickly sipping her coffee.

"There really is no need to rush, Katja. It isn't like Laika is going into space any time soon.

When they said this, I perked up and walked over to hear them. What were they talking about Laika for?

"Well I just want get there as soon as possible."

"Don't worry, we will leave at nightfall, that way we can beat the traffic and pass a larger distance at night since we can, ahem* abide to the speed limit." She said with a devious smile.

"We would catch up in no time going 60 mph haha!" Katja replied.

I whimpered, begging for an explanation. I was lucky that Katja knew what I wanted.

"Oh, balto. My friend Marci has agreed to drive me to Baikonur in the south!" I'm going to be with my husband and Laika!" She said excitedly.

"Well of course, you can't be away from your husband for three whole weeks!" Marci said.

What about Laika... I thought.

I smiled though, and remembered my plan. I turned out of the dining room and walked to the door once again. This time I waited until the two ladies stopped talking, so I wouldn't interrupt them, and then I scratched at the door softly.

"Oh, balto must want to go outside, one sec." She said to Marci.

"Better you use the bathroom outside than in my living room, right?" She joked, as she turned the two locks and pulled the door open. I licked her hand before walking out.

"Just scratch if you want to come back" she said then closed the door.

I was back outside, and the town was alive, but amazingly, they seed to ignore me, Iike I was no longer a wild animal, and was just a normal dog! I enjoyed the town liking me, but I wouldn't stick around. I paced into a run and headed for my boat on the outside of town. It was snowing lightly now, and the sun was barely visible in the blue sky, along the horizon. It was defiantly spring now, as the sun was finally showing its face soon.

I reached my boat and smiled when I heard Kodi and Boris laughing, then quietly walked over to surprise them. I walked low to the ground and slipped through the drivers' room of the boat, and into the lower deck where the two were sitting. I was inching up behind them, ready to jump Kodi playfully, but he beat me to it.

"Oh hi dad." Lodi said without turning around.

"Damn, how did you know?" I said.

"Wolves have wonderful noses, I smelled you all the way from town."

"I see..." I said softly, though on the inside I was truly proud if my son using his abilities.

"So? What happened? We thought Katja took you in and cooked you for dinner!" Boris snapped.

"Oh Boris .. He's been worried ever since you didn't come back outside, and annoyed me all the way to the boat about what crazy and overly paranoid ideas he thought Katja was doing to you." Kodi said as he put a paw on Boris's head.

"Well I don't trust the humans." Boris said as he walked off to the left a bit.

"Haha, that's great, yeah yeah, but I need to talk to you two." I said, impatiently changing the subject as both Kodi and Boris turned to me.

I took a breath and explained my plan to them, having to shut Boris up twice as he cut into my explanation. I told them that Laika would be better off here, and that I should at least be there with her before she went into space. I kept out the main part... I would take Laika's place in the last second, saving her at the cost of my own life. While at the same time, pioneering for the space age that would change the entire world. I didn't care in the least bit about the fame I'd receive, after all, my plan was to _secretly_ switch places with her, she'd still be who goes down in history, but she would live on, happily, with her family, and find love again someday. I finally told them that I was getting old anyway, that I had nobody in this world except them. "And that is why Laika needs you guys, and you guys need Laika."

"Balto, you are crazy. its fine, we'll go out hunting in a bit to clear your mind." Boris simply played it off. While Kodi just stood there, frozen.

"Wait, you're going to sneak a ride all the way to the other side of Russia? I'm coming, you do know that?" Kodi seemed to demand.

"Uh, I don't know if I like that idea... You'd be better off here."

"No, no I wouldn't. My mom and dad are going to be across the country, while I only have three sisters who don't care much for me anyway... Oh, and Boris" he looked at Boris after adding his name.

"I'm coming too, you'd need expert navigator in case we get lost." Boris added.

"Guys..." I said, I didn't want them to be saddened when I took over Laika's spot in the future, I would much rather they found out next year, when Kodi was all grown up, and Laika was safely returned with her family, when they discovered my death...

"I have nothing to look forward to either Fido." Boris said quietly .

"My son is all I have." He added as he hugged me.

"Kodi..." I said to him.

"The boy loves you; let him spend time with you before you leave forever..." Boris said sadly.

I was stunned, how did the damned goose catch onto my plans so quickly?

"Boris... How did you know?" I asked him.

"Why else would you bring up such depressing topics if you we're just going to go and visit Laika? A that talk about you having nothing in this world is a lie, but I could not be more proud of your selflessness." He continued on as he hugged me tight. I looked past him and saw Kodi simply staring at us, confused.

"Ah, well then... Kodi, Boris, I suggest we get move then. We don't want to miss our only ride." I said, and then we walked over to Laika's home. We ignored the people around us, as they didn't seem to care about two wolves and a goose walking into town.

We reached the alleyway and noted the huge white truck parked outside that read "ford" on the front of it, then we jumped in the back, and waited. Almost an hour passed, and I once again fell asleep, as Kodi rested his head in my back and Boris continued staring outside. Only four hours of sunlight would the town get today, and when the sun left the sky, we heard Marci and Katja finally open the door and walk over to the truck. They were talking about a TV show and laughing as they froze when they saw us.

"Balto what are you doing in here? And who is this goose?" She asked curiously.

I only barked to answer her, and she seemed to understand, which left me confused.

"Poor boy, he wants to see Laika too... Oh well, looks like we've got three more travelers with us Marci." She said as Marci smiled.

"It's cold, come up front with us guys. Marci said as she opened the window to the front cabin." I smiled and jumped through, followed by Kodi and Boris. The cabin was surprisingly roomy for a truck, and the whole back seat was more than enough room for us three, plus Marci's huge purse that she threw back here, laughing at me when I jumped at the huge thing. Marci started the loud truck up and flipped the radio on, a song by some guy named Elvis Presley was always playing, as it was the biggest thing to happen in music for the next few years, well, until The Beatles would come in and steal the spotlight.

I smiled as the two ladies sung along happily to the songs word to word as Marci sped up down the long, dark highway whose speed limit we we're defiantly breaking. There probably wasn't another car, or even another person for a hundred miles in any direction, so it was both safe to speed up, and dangerous, as nobody would find us for a long time.

I sighed, and turned my head. The truck vibrating below me, and the warm heat from the cabin soothed me and made me sleepy. Though it didn't affect the other two much.

"I'm coming Laika..." I thought and smiled at Kodi, who was looking out the window. This was his first time in a car, and first time leaving our little town. I could only imagine how curious he must have been, what was out there in the miles of wilderness of Northern Siberia? Then I looked to Boris, who appeared to know the music, and was bobbing his head and singing along with it. I closed my eyes and fell asleep, thinking about how it would be like, up there in space...

* * *

**Thank you for reading this, you right there, just reading makes me happy. Leave a comment if you want, you don't have to.**

**Chapter 6 coming June, 2015.**


	6. Chapter 6

1957, Balto. The Russian spy.

I was lost at the sight before me. For the first time, I felt calm, and actually enjoyed myself on the mission, jumping across the room, dancing by myself, trying to spin around faster and faster, but then stopped before I barfed all over the cabin. Eventually, I returned to stare out of the window, this time tracing the various highway systems that seemed to connect towns to cities with a thin, faint twinkling line of lights. My heartbeat was a normal rate of 102 beats per minute, and the machine sounds told me everything else was normal. I checked the thermometer, 9C, and for the past hour, stuck around 10 C. Perfectly comfortable.

I had just been contacted by the US space administration, NASA, as they called it. I sighed, as they seemed like nice people, but Russia had other plans that had to do with starting a Cold War, as some deemed it. I took a few seconds to admire the Russians; they really did an impressive job with this modified weapon carrier that was meant to cause mass destruction… My cabin was designed in every way to keep me comfortable, well that is, if the thermal control core never disconnected, a heater would have kept me from almost freezing down to my skin a while ago.

Russia launched Sputnik I just a few months ago, and it failed to complete its main mission before running out of battery. This time, they made sure their second one had three times backup power.

Beep...beep...beep... The beeps steadily got faster, and I sighed and watched back out the window, knowing that the satellite was going to do its job and required no intervention from me. I watched down below me, and I knew it was time. I was far above Washington D.C., the target of Sputniks mission. More precisely, its target was the American Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).

The Sputnik II satellite was actually created to intercept and spy on the Americans, using their stupidity against them. Unlike the Russian government, the Americans never hesitated to spill every detail about their so-called, plan to beat the Russians to the moon and win this little space race. The soviet government played along, hiding their real intentions. Sputnik had an early form of data decryption software, and it began to intercept transmissions from the naval base, south of Americas Capitol city. I could hear it crossing my radio pieces' frequency every now and then:

"... Initial ... Phase rocket boasters... Dr. Wernher Von Braun... German... V-2... Modified IRBM... Extended funding..."

Then a familiar plan was described, one that Boris was directly referencing. I was surprised that the goose was correct

"Project Vanguard..."

**(Wikipedia: Project Vanguard. Research it a bit before reading on; it'll help you later in the story.)**

1956, are we there yet?

"Balto, you're brave, selfless, and the best thing to ever happen in my life, my uncle, my family." Laika said, I smiled as she hugged me and cried. I licked her head, it was the last time I'd ever see her, but she didn't know it. My heart filled with pride, I watched Kodi and Boris fight off tears, with Kodi not caring to accomplish this. He shook his head, spreading his tears onto Boris.

"He is the best thing to ever happen to my life too..." Everyone froze as they heard another female voice come from the left, mimicking Laika's goodbye. I chuckled deeply before accepting her into a group hug that Kodi and Boris now helped to turn this into.

...

I awoke to an empty truck; I was alone lying in the back seat. I jumped into a sitting position and looked around. It was still pitch black, but I knew that there was no way I could have slept through the 18 hour night. I could barely make out the building we were parked next to, there were no lights anywhere. I jumped to the front seat and looked for a way to get out. Nothing that I could see...

It was still comfortable in the truck, since they made sure that it was still warm for me to sleep well.

"Are we here already?" I thought. I barked a bit, but figured it was no use. I jumped to the back now, and tried to push at the window that led to the rear, open portion of the truck. It was useless, I needed thumbs to pull the tab open and then slide the window to the left. I whimpered in defeat, and eventually lay back down, trying to go back to sleep. I was still tired, so I figured I'd sleep for another few hours and maybe they'll be back by then.

A loud noise woke me up, I perked up to look out the window, I had slept for four more hours, but there was still no sign of anybody.

"Where the hell are they..."

I looked at the only light, it was far down the road already, and it was a freight truck that had honked its loud horn when it passed the truck. Only when another car finally passed by, did I finally realize my location. I was sleeping in a truck alone, parked on the side of the freeway, and the freight truck honked because the truck was slightly sticking out into the left lane.

"Why did they leave me and the truck here?"... I was more confused, and again, looked for a way out. I jumped at the window, ignoring the pain it caused my nose, and somehow, managed to open it a little. I forced my muzzle I between the window and tried to pry it open further, that didn't work. I kind of enjoyed the frigid Siberian temperature that started to seep its way into the truck, but thought of a good plan.

I sat up and move my muzzle to the window, and did what wolves did best. I let out a long resonating howl that echoed throughout the truck, but extended miles out into the Siberian wilderness. When I stopped, nothing changed; as there was nobody around to hear it. I looked outside for a while again, and planned to howl once a car came, but I would see no headlights for hours. Eventually I tried to smell outside. I recognized a few scents, and barked excitedly, Katja and Marci were near, and I also caught onto to Kodi, and Boris's scent. I howled again, but nothing. I wondered where they went, and wondered if they could even hear me.

It was still pitch black, but a light turned on, and I got to see where this was, a motel. I sighed, no longer worried. My mind already started to think of terrible possibilities as to what happened to everyone else, motel meant that they were sleeping inside and didn't want to wake me. I watched in the distance as a door opened and Katja walked out towards the truck. I barked exited and jumped around as she got closer.

"Balto, I forgot to come and get you, hah, you were sound asleep and even Kodi couldn't wake you up." She said as she opened the door. I jumped down out of the truck and walked alongside her, she yawned and was shivering a bit, it was nearly freezing after all. She pulled out a key and opened the door to the motel room and as soon as she closed it, she flopped back down in her bed, without moving. I examined the room, and, for a cheap motel, this room wasn't all that bad. It had two beds, one with Marci fast asleep and the other that Katna was now sleeping. I smiled as I walked I between the beds to where Kodi and Boris were sleeping, then lay down next to them. I tried to sleep, but Marci left that damn noise box on.

"Ugh, television... Humans are weird." I thought.

I turned my head away and tried to ignore the TV sounds, it had appeared to be an advertisement for a hunting knife, that, if I were to call now I'd get "not one, but two knives, for the low low price of 19.95."

My body literally could not stay still. I had slept well over ten hours and I was energetic as ever.

"There's no way I could sleep more..." I thought.

I decided to give the noise box a try and sat up in front of it. I couldn't make out much as it seemed to flicker a million times per second and even made my eyes hurt, but I tried to make out what it said, out of pure boredom.

(**Dogs can't watch 24 fps tv like in the 1957s. They would see every frame separate, unlike humans. Imagine that)**

A show came on, NBC news. The announcer said that the program was in color, but this TV set wasn't "color-ready". I could barely make out the face of the announcer, it seemed like the tv was moving in slow motion with every picture.

"How the hell do humans watch this?" I thought. I gave up and walked over to the tv and lay down in front of the dresser that it was sitting on. I'd just listen to the man talking. He mentioned the weather and more crap about Russian rebellions in Moscow, stuff I didn't care about. But then he did say something that got my full attention, and I sat up, trying to make out the images onscreen.

"And news from Baikonur tonight, scientists at the Soviet Space Program have announced that they will not be launching any Intercontinental ballistic missiles over U.S soil. This announcement is to dismay rumors that our country is trying to "pick a fight" with the Americans. Last month's test launch of a modified ICBM sparked worldwide panic, with some propagandists calling it the beginning of "world war 3". Countries along Eastern Europe have already chosen sides, preparing for all out nuclear war against the Allied forces." I turned my head now, he was talking about war, and fighting. Things I hated in the world, so this was boring to me.

"The soviet space program had this statement to say: "at the moment, we are not testing, or designing, any weapons of mass destruction. Our efforts at the SSP are purely for peaceful scientific research meant for the betterment of mankind. If the world chooses to frown upon our experiments, lets see the looks in your faces when we are the first to land on the moon! For science!"" I looked back now, the man had a different accent, one that matched Fredriks', then I barely made out what was behind the man... Laika! I barked quickly, trying to wake Katja and Marci, barked and howled.

"What is it boy?" Katja asked, I barked at the tv as the announcer asked the scientist questions.

"We are currently training dogs to go into orbit around earth. This is one of our top dogs right now." He said, than I barked happily as he lifted up Laika to show the camera. She had a metallic suit in her that had many wires and metal bars on it. It looked uncomfortable...

"Hey! Whoa, Marci look! It's Laika!"

"Wow, would you look at that! Laika's on the news!" Marci said, still half-sleep. Katja, on the other hand, was already sitting in the edge if her bed, just as excited as I was.

"This is our highly trained cosmonaut canine named Laika. She is training for a mission that will happen in 1960, and we plan on sending her to the moon" I was less exited now, and Katja read my mind.

"That bastard... Why is he lying to the announcer? They're training Laika to go to the moon in four years? What is the meaning of this..." Katja asked Marci.

"I have no idea, the scientists seems to be reading a script! Maybe you'll ask Fredrik when we get there..." Marci said, then returned her face to her pillow.

"Marci get up, this is morning news with NBC! It's almost 9 now." Katja said.

"Aw... I thought we travel at night..." Marci said fake whining.

"It is night, for another four hours! Let's go!" Katja said. I looked back to the TV now as the reporter asked another question.

"What rumors do you have to either deny, or confirm?" All three of us watching noticed the scientists horrified look at the reporter. He was obviously not supposed to say anything.

"This interview is over, turn the cameras off." A man from the left said, right away, we recognized the voice...

"Dr. Fredrik, lead scientist, we have nothing to say for you a-" the reporters camera feed was turned off, right after Fredrik seemed to put a hand in the reporter. It couldn't be seen, but the military forcefully kicked the reporter out of the base, destroying much if his equipment in the process. "That's soviet communism for ya" I thought.

"Well, I guess we've got a little technical difficulty down in Baikonur. Stay tuned after a message from our sponsors." Then Katja turned the tv off before the first commercial played. I was relieved, having ignored the high pitch scream that came from the TV set, as it was absent now.

"Wow... That was so weird... Why did Fredrik seem so aggressive to answer the reporter?" Marci asked Katja, who looked as confused as she was.

"Yeah... And why did they lie?" Katja added.

I barked in a high pitch to response, and got a laugh out of both of them.

"I suppose we'd better get a move in then." Marci offered, and smiled as Katja excitedly jumped up and got dressed. It took them almost an hour to get ready... So I woke up Kodi and Boris.

1957, caught.

The satellite was doing its job, having intercepted transmissions and data regarding the Americans plan to beat the soviets, it began to send messages too. I overheard the technical explanations that the scientists explained back at the cosmodrome. He said that the second part of Sputnik's mission was to disrupt signals, and if it went according to plan, it would mess up research, and prevent their rockets from taking off correctly. What a terrible thing to do, sabotage the U.S rockets... I thought about if I should try and stop it from sending the disruption signals, maybe pull all the wires in hopes of disabling the transmitter, but there was nothing. This cabin was sealed, and was meant to stay that way. I sighed in defeat, just as a robotic signal started to beep it's way through my radio piece, and down to the Naval research laboratory, 600 miles below me.

A few minutes later, the mission was done, unknowing to the scientists, their data was slightly altered by what Sputnik sent down, so they would make incorrect measurements that would eventually lead to the malfunction of their first, second, and third rockets. Only then did they re-calculate everything, and eventually get their fourth rocket up and running. This led their country to a depressive state that the soviets were winning this race, and led away from the real threat, global nuclear war... Both sides now had rockets capable of delivering a half-ton nuclear weapon of mad destruction anywhere in the world.

I looked out the window again, trying to pry the terrible thoughts of war from my mind. Once again, the earth brought me to tears. All this talk about war, but below me, I could see nothing of the sort. The earth was a giant, peaceful dark blue ball, everything was equal, everything was the same. I looked to the east, and saw that the westernmost tip of Spain and Europe were beginning to show, and they were lit up, as the sun was half way I between the Atlantic. I looked below me now, I was passing over New England, Maine, more specifically, and at the angle I was heading, I would cross the Atlantic and reach a much northern part on the east side. I'd probably end up over Iceland, only taking half an hour to cross the 5000 mile gap of the Atlantic Ocean. Everything seemed just fine, the machines attached to me were all working, and showing good signs, the temperature in the cabin was 14C... No wait, 15C... "

Oh no..." I thought, the temperature was now starting to rise, and I looked outside to see why. Just above the earth, a bright piercing light made its mark on the world below me, and I was in direct sight of it, the sun. I was in trouble if the thermal controller didn't activate and cool the cabin, as the direct sunlight would easily heat my cabin... How much, I didn't know.

Half an hour passed, the cabin was at 21c now, and I had already started to prepare for the worst. I was already starting to feel the heat, any of the cabin that was still a bit frosted by the earlier deep freeze, was starting to thaw, and quickly heated up. 24 C now... It was getting hot fast, but I froze at the window, a familiar sight reminded me of home, reminded me of the cold... The northern lights... Seen from space, above Iceland and all of Northern Europe. The sight was amazing, as I have never seen them from this angle. I never knew that they extended so high into space above, hundreds of miles above the surface. It also reminded me of home, the people I left behind... And once again, filled me with sorrow. I lifted my nose up and howled as it echoed about the cabin. This song was full of despair and misery, for how I missed my family below...

* * *

**You may have noticed that this story is starting to "slow down" and less time is being passed. I'm doing this, so that you can get more details from both sides, but in the end, they will still match up together, and eventually, Balto's 1955-1957 point of view will meet Balto in space, and end where the story started, at the Launchpad…**


	7. Chapter 7

**This story is back in action!... Kinda. I've got a few chapter typed up, so with proper editing, more chapters will be coming soon. I'm enjoying writing this, but my main focus right now is still on "Forgive Thy Enemy".**

* * *

1956.

I snapped at Kodi playfully as he slept, and caused him to jump up quickly to retaliate. He growled and tried to bite my ear, but only got air.

"You've got to work on your aim son." I said while dodgin another of his bites.

I motioned him to stop, and pointed my muzzle at Boris, who was fast asleep at the base of the bed. Kodi caught on and smiled as I slowly sneaked up to him. I got low and pu my muzzle right at his ear before making a loud, high pitched piercing bark right in his ears.

"AHH! What! What? Get to cover!" He stopped mid sentence as he looked around. He quickly frowned and stared at me and I did the same thing back. Kodi laughed a bit at our staring contest, and got up to stretch. Boris broke first and began to smooth down his feathers, muttering something in inaudible Russian.

"Now that you guys are up, I can tell you what happened!" I said

"What?" Kodi asked with a curious look on his face.

"We saw Laika on the television! She looks happy, and I'm glad she's enjoying her training, but Fredrik seemed angry when the reporter asked questions and it looked like he shoved the cameraman away." I explained.

"That sure sounds suspicious" Boris said.

"I think they're keeping secrets, and maybe there is something that they don't want the entire county to know." I said.

"Or maybe they don't want the world to know, remember how easily my brother got info on American Project Vanguard?" Boris said.

"Yeah, that makes sense. I guess we'll ask Laika when we get there."

During our conversation, Kodi sat there, obviously having little idea what we were talking about, but was curious, and it showed on his slightly angled head that switched gazes between both of us as we talked.

"Well, let's go outside. Had to take a piss since last night..." I said as I got up.

"Yeah, me too." Kodi added.

"Ha, last night me and Kodi tried to wake you, but you were fast asleep like a pup!" Boris said, joining us in heading outside.

"Yeah, I thought you guys left me and I was trapped!"

"I only got Katja's attention by howling out into the night." I added.

"Wow, wish I could have heard it." Kodi said.

"You should howl by yourself soon, it comes natural, and since you're even more wolf than me? Ha, you might do it better." I said, and noted the obvious prideful smile that he mustered up. I also noted how cute the face he was making and so did Katja.

"Awww, look at the cute puppy's face! It looks like Balto told him something wonderful." Katja said as she pulled her socks over each foot.

I liked that Katja found Kodi cute, because it might led to her adopting Kodi, so that he had a place to stay when I left on my one way trip.

Eventually, Marci came out of the bathroom and grabbed her keys, a signal we all understood, and walked to the door. When we were all outside, she locked the door and told us to wait at the truck while she went and turned the room keys in.

Katja got the the truck first, and jumped up on the truck bed, sitting in the side of it. She obviously had the look of impatience to her, since we both wanted to see Laika as soon as possible. While we were waiting, I continued to play with Kodi, while Boris and Katja watched with a smile. I reverted back to a pup as I playfully flipped him over and simply let my instincts take over. He snapped at my ear again, this time hitting, and laughed as I yipped for a split second. I was proud of him, since he learned from his past mistake quickly. He'd do well as a hunter, but I hoped Katja would take him in so he didn't have to.

Marci walked up now and unlocked the truck. One by one we jumped in, and with a quick start of the ignition, we were off, set to complete the remaining 400 miles of our journey to the Baikonur Cosmodrone.

1957, hotspot.

My tongue slipped out to the side on its own now, and I began panting. I looked hopelessly at the thermometer... It read 31C now.

"_88 F..."_ I thought.

I was really in trouble, the temperature has risen that far In just under an hour. I had four hours of direct sunlight to endure. There's no telling how hot it will get in here...

More of that gelatinous food would be great about now... But I wouldn't be fed again for another three hours. That also happened to be the amount of direct sunlight I had left. I looked down at my telemetric vest and read the various sensors.

Altitude read "00736419" in meters.

"Whoa... That's like... 400 miles!" I tried my best at converting the measurements.

This was an impressive feat for the program and for all of space travel in general, and I came to a conclusion that I was now, quite literally, the lonliest dog ever, with not a single soul within 400 miles from me.

My heartbeat was rising. No doubt it was due to the rise in temperature.

"Man I've got to do something or else I might black out..." I thought.

I slipped out of my vest and began to explore the cabin a bit, but only a minute later, something got my attention.

I smelt something burning...

I quickly looked over and saw that direct sunlight was coming in from the window and began to burn the vest that now floated in front of the window. I barked panicked as I quickly, but unsuccessfully tried to make it to the vest before it was too late.

It caught fire.

Immediately I turned now to the cooler side of the cabin and could only watch and hope that the vest burned out without setting something else on fire... For the next 30 seconds, the telemetric vest burnt... It was a contained flame, something that intrigued me... I sat at the far side of my cabin simply memorized by it... This was like no other flame I've seen on earth. The lack of gravity meant that flames did not rise, and it also meant that the flame kept itself small and would probably go out instantly if I simply blew air to it.

(**Stop here for a sec and quickly look up how a flame in space looks on YouTube. It's truly amazing.)**

Eventually the vest did burn itself out without causing any other damage, but the main problem was still present. I looked over at the thermometer and noted its temperature.

36 degrees Celsius...

1956, security clearance.

Kodi was chewing on one of Marci's old shoes, and even though she showed slight annoyance when she found out, Katja told her to just let him be. Once again, I liked that Katja showed interest in Kodi. Maybe I had nothing to worry about Kodi finding a home. I smiled at Kodi as I thought this.

Boris caught on with his seemingly telepathic abilities, however annoying they were...

"Ah, the boy plays like pup still." Boris said.

"He is still a pup after-all..."

"I suppose so. What are you thinking about? You've been watching him play for nearly ten minutes."

I shook my head and looked out the window, but Boris didn't let it slide, he continued staring st me expecting an answer.

"The boy needs a family... Human owners... Not, like I was raised..." I said in a low tone.

"This again..."

"When else could I talk about it? I only have a few hours left with you guys if anything..."

Boris sighed and patted my head to comfort me.

"He will be fine with me. I raised you right... Right?" Boris asked.

"Yeah... You did." I turned to him with a smile now.

I continued to stare out the window at the everlasting white wasteland of southern Siberia. We were nearing the border now, and at this time of year a large shift in climate goes nearly unnoticeable coming from the northernmost tip of Siberia all the way south to Kazakhstan.

"Katja likes him. So there is hope that when Laika comes home, kodi might also have a home to call his own too."

"I've noticed. Maybe Katja and Fredrik will be more accepting of wolf dogs, I mean Katja obviously doesn't have a problem with you now, don't ya' think?" Boris said as he turned to look at Kodi.

"Maybe... I just want him to have the life I couldn't have, you know, raised with a human owner... Taken on walks, sleep at the foot of their bed, fed three filling meals a day without having to worry about where your next meal was coming from."

"Sheesh, was your childhood really that bad?" Boris asked in a joking way.

"Of course not. Doesn't mean I can't want better for my..."

"Your son. Remember, Laika says he is your son, honor that." Boris said.

I sighed and laid my head down on the small windowsill and continued to stare out into the wilderness beyond.

A loud sound made everyone in the truck snap their heads to the source behind the truck.

Sirens.

I knew something was different about this though, and Marci also knew it. She did not slow the truck down.

"Marci... What are you doing? Pull over."

"No... It's not border control police..." Marci said with a low tone.

"What is it then?"

"National security personnel."

"Why are they trying to stop us?"

"Because we kinda passed into Baikonur a few miles back and I wanted to surprise you?" Marci asked with an awkward smile.

"Well that sure backfired..." Kafka said with a laugh.

"Yeah but now we-" Marci was cut off by another voice

"Under order of the soviet government, you are ordered to stop your vehicle or we WILL open fire!"

"Oh crap, okay okay!"

"Are they serious?"

"Do you want to find out?" Marci yelled panicked at Katja.

I jumped up now and looked at the passenger of the car behind us... He was holding an AK-47 rifle aimed at our truck...

I barked at Marci to stop the truck, and even though it sent me, kodi, and Boris flying to the front of the cabin, she did what the threatening car behind us wanted.

The truck came to a full stop on the side of the road, and as Kodi and I struggled to return ourselves in a normal position, instantly there was a man knocking at the driver side window.

"Step out of the truck please." He asked, though to everyone, it seemed more like a command.

Marci listened and removed the keys from the ignition, then opened her door to step out.

"Both of you." He said.

The other man came now, and I lowered my head as he looked through the back window.

"Whoa! Charles they've got two wolves in their truck!" The second officer said. He aimed his gun at Kodi, who was closer to getting out.

"No!" Katja said and grabbed Kodi.

"I'll carry him, see? He's nice!"

"Ma'am, drop the wolf right now."

"No, put it back in the truck and close the door..." The first officer suggested.

"Okay, but don't hurt them."

"We won't, as log as they don't..." The officer said.

Katja placed Kodi back on the seat and closed the door behind her. Kodi jumped back here and snuggled close to me and Boris, obviously a little bit shaken up at the man almost firing at him just then...

I watched out of the window and listened to their conversation.

"Identify yourselves."

This was already out of the ordinary. No officer would ask for information that way. They'd usually just ask for an I'd card or drivers license for identification.

"Katja Amorsk."

"Marci Campbell."

"Wait... Amorsk? Do you know anyone stationed at the Baikonur consmodrone?" The officer asked as he activated his radio now.

"Katja Amorsk" he repeated into his radio before Katja could even reply.

They all stood around for about a minute before they got a response.

The officers only response was a nod to the other officer and then turned his radio off.

"Katja Amorsk, come with me, you've been granted clearance by order of Dr. Fredrik Amorsk."

"Wait, what about my friend and our pets?"

"Thu do not have clearance. My teammate will escort them back outside Baikonur lands and write up a ticket for trespassing on government property."

"Great..." Marci sighed.

"But..."

"Katja, just go. You need to be with your husband and Laika. I'll just check out a hotel and you let me know when your ready to leave."

"Okay... Thank you for the ride..." Katja said, though she couldn't speak much more as tears could be seen in her eyes. She hugged Marci goodbye and walked with the officer back to his patrol car.

I watched from the truck as my entire plan seemed to fall apart. I could not get into Baikonur, and that meant that I could not help Laika...

Katja entered the patrol car and soon they drove off.

"Well, ma'am, I'm afraid you're going to use to let me drive until we are off of government property, since you are not legally allowed to drive here."

"Fine, here." Marci smiled as she raised the keys I front of his face, then dropped them right at his feet.

"Haha..." The officer laughed a bit frustrated.

He picked them up and got into the drivers seat, followed by Marci, who enters the back sea with me kodi and Boris.

"I'll sit with Balto." She said as the officer looked at her.

"You keeping two wolves and a... Uh... Snow goose as a pet?" He asked.

"Well that's a long story, to make t short, they are Katjas pets, and they're adoptive."

"I understand. But why the goose?"

All of this small talk was pissing me off. I decided that I would have to run off and try to make it there on my own...

"Kodi... I love you son. You too dad..." I said quickly before the officer started the truck.

"Balto what are you-"

I growled mostly to scare the officer and jumped at him. I did not try to harm him, only scare him. I grabbed onto his sleeve and luckily enough, it scared him so much, he opened the door in an attempt to try and knock me off of him.

"Balto what the hell are you doing!" Marci yelled.

"Get your... Darn... Pet off... Of me!" The officer struggled to say to Marci.

"I'm sorry!" She yelled then tried to pull me off.

We were already praise the truck, so I let him go, but I did not eat away quick enough for him to get one good kick at me...

I yipped in pain at the officers kick, right to my ribcage, but pressed on. I took off as fast as I could.

"Alright balto! That's my boy!" Boris cheered me on as I escaped.

The officer was not done. Though he did not have any injuries at all, he told Marci to step back as he pulled out his handgun.

"Wait! No! Don't shoot him! Are you crazy?" Marci yelled and tried to get the gun from him, but he slapped her with his backhand, and she fell to the ground. Kodi saw this, and he had enough of it. He jumped out now at the officer, but not fast enough to stop him from firing once...

The man was well trained in how to fire a gun, he hit Baltos back leg from almost 200 meters, and amazingly, Balto continued running!

The officer was trying to shake Kodi off of his arm now, as Marci sat back and did not help this time.

"God damn wolves!" He yelled and finally, got hold of Kodi. He slammed his small body to the ground with huge force, knocking the wind out of him. He could not breath for the moment, but his mouth opened in shock anyway at the sight. The man had a gun pointed at his face...

Boris's turn now.

Comming to the rescue, Boris flew out of the back seat and covered the mans face with his wings, while he scratched and clawed at his face.

"Run boy! Go after Balto. I'll be fine!" He yelled to Kodi.

"Are you sure?" Kodi yelled back.

"You are forgetting I can fly! Go now!" He said, as the man still struggled to shake him off. Boris waited until both Kodi and Balto were out of sight, then took his leave. He flew straight up and quickly dove down in the direction of Kodi and Balto, dodging more bullets the whole time.

The mans face was covered in scratches and feathers as he turned a furious face towards Marci.

"They play so nicely." Marci said with a smile as she sat agains the truck, watching the whole ordeal without stepping in.

* * *

**Wondering why so short? Chapters for this story are supposed to be short. I've been letting them grow larger, and even had a 5000 word chapter at one point. They'll be short, around 1000-2000 words from now on. Thanks for reading and commenting!**


	8. I bet you don't even notice this changed

Chapter 8

1957 familiar voices.

"_Balto..._"

I could hear someone whispering my name... Where was it coming from? I searched around the cabin, but not too surprisingly, there was nothing. The voice steadily whispered my name over and over, the high pitches ringing was fading away now.

All that remained was... Jenna?... Calling my name.

"_Balto... Talk to me..."_

"J-Jenna?" I replied quietly.

_"There is a way out..."_

I ignored it for now, and sniffed around the cooler parts of the cabin. I went back to what saved me earlier, the scolding pipeline that helped to warm me where I should have frozen to death. I "swam" there, best I could to pull myself against the cabin, and looked around more. It was... Cooler here. Mostly because it was out of direct sunlight.

"_Balto, there is a way out..."_the voice continued.

The words replayed in my mind over and over. I examined the cabin wall, and placed a paw on it. It was even cooler. I thought about the words, thought about if I should even reply this time. I would give anything to talk to Jenna again, maybe this was my answer.

"What do you mean?" I asked aloud.

The voice did not reply.

I stayed still and silent for about a minute, waiting for a reply that never came.

I looked towards where I heard the voice come from, and quickly learned that it wasn't a whisper; it was a voice coming from the radio piece...

"_Nobody knows that my name is Balto, that has access to the radio..." _I thought before turning my head away in disbelief.

The sound coming from the radio piece continued, and whatever static could be heard, was starting to fade away, and was replaced by a light Morse-code type sound, pulsating 5 times a second.

A minute passed before I gave in with frustration and pulled my way to the radio piece, and then put it over my left ear.

"Balto?" Jenna asked, though not like the harmonic whisper from earlier, no, this time she sounded alive and well, actually talking to me, and I wasn't going crazy.

"Jenna! How did you get this to work?"

"I got help."

Jenna replied in her normal, usual voice, completely changed from the harmonic, trance inducing voice that brought me to the radio piece in the first place.

"I'm so glad to hear your voice... I love you."

"I love you the same..."

Something was weird with the voice that I just couldn't put my paw on, but I ignored it.

"That's all I want to hear..."

"I can help you Balto..."

"Jenna, what?" I asked confused.

"We all miss you..." Jenna said in a changing tone, like she was on the verge of crying.

"We?" I asked.

"Yes Balto. We are all here... And we want you back" I heard a new voice come into play now.

"I love you uncle Balto! Thanks for keeping me safe..." Laika said.

"I'm glad I could do it Laika... I love you like the daughter I've never had." I said as a single tear developed and separated from my fur, and began floating around my face.

"You're a hero dad!" I heard Kodi say.

"You'll do great things someday too son... I love you all..."

I had a sad smile on my face, I was glad to be able to speak to them one last time. I knew I probably wasn't going to last a while longer... It was 40C now.

I cried tears of happiness as I spoke to Boris as he gave me a lecture on how a man acts during hard times... Saying that I was the best son he could ask for, then he went on about a time he had to cross a desert by himself while me and Kodi were unconscious. Then my three nieces as they synchronized in speaking, saying they were amazed that I was in space, and thanked me for saving their mother.

I heard that song again... In the background. American folk singers and their song for me, "muttnik".

I didn't want to believe the fact the this was a fantasy, false hope, because I knew that by now my radio piece had ran out of power... I let out another low howl... Missing my family, as voices were not all I heard, the ringing returned, joined by 41C.

"105F" I muttered under my breath.

**(Note: if you watched The Walking Dead, this is indeed a reference to the "phone scene" with Rick during Season Three :D)**

I thought about what just happened, more importantly, what Jenna said. _"She kept saying there was a way out, and that she wanted to help me… I wonder what she meant?"_

1956, Katja.

The ride into Baikonur was surprisingly short; Marci had passed the border nearly an hour ago at this point.

The officers' vehicle crossed a checkpoint without even slowing down and only got a nod from the security personnel managing it.

Over the horizon, I watched as a huge tower quickly came into view before us. One of several launch pads spread around the bases' property. I was shocked at the sheer ingenuity of the devices that seemed like they were out of some sci-fi picture.

"Wow..."

"Impressive, don't 'cha think? Yep, the Soviet Space Program built many of these launch pads. This is by far the largest. It's going to be the one that will put your dog into space next year.

I kept quiet, but was surprised that he told me the truth. I wanted to ask but I figured I'd keep my mouth shut for now.

"Your husband is currently training with the dogs in B-wing. And, coming up on your right is the main attraction!" The officer said with a smile.

As soon as we passed a large building, my view was opened to a vast concrete field that had many vehicles, and workers all working to build the Sputnik rocket.

"That is amazing..." I couldn't help but say.

The huge rocket booster alone was impressive, and stood nearly 50 feet into the sky. A metallic frame extended over the build portion suggested that this rocket was going to be much larger.

"Yep, it's a modified German V2 ICBM. The Americans think we're trying to start a war with them, heh. We're scientists, the only objective in our book is for the betterment of mankind. But I say let them be scared of us if they want to."

I have a soft courtesy laugh at his statement.

We pulled up to yet another security gate.

"Hey frank, do you really need my badge?" The officer joked

"You know I do." The security officer said with a laugh

The officer showed his badge and the security officer pressed the gate button without even looking at the badge. The gate pulled open and we drove in. After he parked his patrol car, I followed him to a minicart.

"We'll have to ride this into the infrastructure. If we walked it might take us all day to reach where your husband works haha."

I nodded in understanding and sat on the back of the minicart.

Within a few minutes we approached the garage and opened it, exposing the inside of the building. As the garage door sealed shut behind us, I noted how comfortable it was inside the building, versus the warmer temperatures that I was not used to, outside. We passed many interesting stations along the ride, there were scientists working on engine systems, computers, radio communications, and a few testing a glass windshield by shooting it with a handgun. Some of these jobs looked fun, but I quickly noted that there was not a single woman working at the stations. The only women I could see we're either cleaning, or working at a desk as a secretary.

"This is B-wing. Over 200 of Russia's top scientists, and a few German scientists work in this room. They're all working towards the same goal. Beautiful cooperation between supposed "sworn enemies." All for the space race!" The officer explained.

"Your husband, Fredrik, that name sounds German, yes?" He asked.

"Nope, he was born and raised in mother Russia as well as his parents, and their parents, and further back." I explained

"Good, good. And the same for you?"

"Yes." I lied to the officer, in reality, I met Fredrik in Germany.

We drove through the large room, and into a long narrow hallway. It was narrow enough for the cart to drive through, but if someone else was coming from the other direction, we'd have a bit of a problem.

Eventually we came to a glass room, one that could only be described as a "safe from contaminates" room. The men that worked here wore large white full-body suites, and the only way to get in was to go through decontamination.

"In there, scientists are working on the main interior cabin. Such precise work that if a single speck of dust got on one of the glass shields, it is discarded."

"Why so clean?"

"When we launch Sputnik into space this summer, nobody knows exactly what's out there. If microbes or bacteria were to get into space, again, nobody knows what would happen. They might mutate due to the large doses of radiation and come back to earth as giant versions of their microscopic selves."

"Scary."

"Yeah, but the main reason is to make sure the instruments don't pick up dust and create interference, when it's up in space, there is no way to clean or recalibrate them."

"You should have told me that explanation first" I said with a smile.

The officer chuckled and nearly missed a right turn.

"And we are finally here, look who is waiting for you!"

"Thanks for the ride mister."

"No prob ma'am." The officer tipped his hat then drove off.

My husband was still working on something as I walked up to him, but a quick look at me and he took his goggles off.

"Katja! What are you doing here? The officer said I had visitors, but he wasn't specific at all!" Fredrik said

I walked up to hug him but he hesitated and backed away.

"Better let me take this off first haha"

Fredrik took off his lab coat that was visibly stained by some chemical.

"It was nothing, just some sulfuric acid, now come here love." He pulled me closer and kissed me, I missed my husband and didn't care that the entire lab station was staring at us making out.

"Well, I was preparing to live without you for a full month while you we're away, but Marci came over and suggested she drive me all the way down here to be with you and Laika. She's going to lease an apartment here somewhere for us."

"Isn't that nice of her. But you know I would have come back earlier. My leave is a month away, but it doesn't mean I any just walk out if this place and drive up to see you whenever I wanted."

"This is better because now were closer."

"Haha I suppose so."

He smiled at me and kissed my hand before returning to work on something.

"Just let me finish this here and I'll show you around a bit. Check out those high tech magnets on the table over there. Interesting stuff."

I smiled as I watched my husband put his lab coat and goggles back on. He was finally doing what he loved, working on the first rocket to go into space, rather than flying an airplane shooting at German soldiers.

I played with the magnets for a bit, whatever alloy they were it made then very strong, and it was pretty hard to separate them if you got opposite sides touching. But as fun as they were, I still had questions bothering me. I wanted to ask Fredrik why he lied to the press, more importantly, I wondered where Laika was.

After a while, I heard Fredrik say he was done, and after he took the part to his boss, he came back to show me around.

"I was working on a very important part of the space ship. Most likely it won't go on the first Sputnik, but it might go on the second one if we ever get to it. Whichever dog we send up with Sputnik II will be safe as long as that Core Block A I just built is fully functional, it controls the thermal instruments so that the doggy won't get too hot or too cold."

(**What luck he has...)**

"Speaking of dogs, where is Laika?" Katja asked.

"She's training in another sector. They're in a building a few miles south of here." Fredrik explained.

"We'll go see her and the other dogs soon, I have to head over there and help with training for a bit before my shift ends." He added.

"Yeah, and hopefully I can meet up with Marci soon." Katja added.

* * *

**Chapter 9 coming very soon.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9, quick and finished as promised. I really wanted to get this chapter up quickly, because it's _barely _the beginning of where the story starts. Pay attention now, as details in the future will be scarce, and pure info and mindsets will be exposed in the upcoming chapters. **

1956, Balto, what is heat exhaustion?

Balto and Kodi were walking now, after running for about a full hour straight down the road that they hoped would eventually lead to Baikonur. Boris flew ahead, disappearing from sight as he raised a mile high, and a few miles ahead of them. He shook his head as he flew down and reached the ground.

"Ugh, I see nothing for miles in any direction." Boris recalled.

"Dad, this place is weird. Why is it so hot here?" Kodi asked.

"I don't know son. This sand were walking on, it's like we're at the beach back home, but… It's everywhere..." Balto tried his best at understanding a desert.

In all facts, they were not in a true desert, it was still north enough that the temperatures only barely peaked above 80F, but the thing that confused the three who spent their whole lives walking on snow, was that the ground was covered in sand as far as they he could see.

Boris jumped on Balto's back to rest for a bit as Balto ignored it and kept walking. He loved flying, and very frequently told Boris that he'd trade anything to be able to fly like he could, but had no idea how exhausting it was...

"It's so hot here... How does anyone live this close to the sun?" Kodi asked.

"Haha, that's not exactly how things work. We're the same distance from the sun right now as we were back home." Balto explained.

"Really? Why does the sun seem higher then?"

"Well... Back home we were on top of the world, now we are almost in the middle. So the sun seems closer." Balto proudly explained.

"That doesn't make any sense..."

"Imagine tennis balls and the sun is a basketball. Now imagine us on top of the tennis ball versus at the middle of it."

"Uh... Oh, I guess that makes sense." Kodi said still a bit confused. Balto ruffled his head with his paw for a bit, making him laugh.

What Balto tried his best to explain, was the fact that in the extreme north latitudes above the Arctic Circle, where they lived their entire lives, the sun rarely rose above 60o high in the sky, where, now the sun was almost directly above them.

"You know a lot about outer space Balto." Boris said, he was observing the conversation quietly while riding on his back.

"Yeah... Space is interesting. I would spend hours with Laika asking her about the mysteries that lie beyond this planet. What amazing adventures lie out there..." Balto looked up at the sky, but squinted, and growled in frustration as the sun nearly blinded him.

"Yeah, well, we've for to get our stuff together down on earth first!" Boris joked.

Kodi laughed along with Balto softly, but both he and Boris caught something wrong. Kodi started breathing heavily.

"Kodi what's wrong boy?"

"Uh nothing... I think... I don't know it's like I have asthma or something." He said I between gasps for air.

"Kodi breathe right." Balto said frightened.

"I am... Dad, why you... Why you… Why you multiply..." Kodi trailed off halfway through the last word. He was seeing double.

Kodi sighed one last time then fell, flat on his face, and the rest of his body soon followed.

"Kodiak!" Balto ran to his side and Boris jumped off, picking Kodi's head up and trying to slap him awake.

"Boris! What the is wrong with him?!" Balto asked crazily.

"I don't know! He's passed out or something!"

Boris examined Kodi further, verifying his heartbeat, then lifting his eyelid to check if he was out cold, or just sleeping, but Boris was not a doctor, he had no idea what this was, neither of them did.

What would the both of them, who grew up in Siberia, know about Heat exhaustion?

"Maybe he's tired... We've got to get him out of the sun." Balto panicked further, and looked around.

"There!" He said before running off.

Boris continued to fan Kodi with his wind, as Balto ran a few feet away and began tearing the ground apart.

"Balto, what are you doing?"

"Digging a quick den, we need to shelter Kodi!" Balto yelled back.

He was ripping at the ground crazily, trying desperately to form some kind of hole to shield Kodi from the heat, but this was no use. Each shovel of sand he pulled out instantly replaced itself and filled back in. No hole deeper than a few inches was possible, and I would defiantly not hold together as a makeshift roof.

"No, come on!" Balto yelled in frustration and pounded the ground.

"It's this stupid sand! Impossible to dig!" Boris replied, trying his best at kicking the sand away from Kodi.

"What do we do!?" Balto asked and jumped around

Neither of them knew how to deal with this...

Balto thought for a second, shaking in horror as he watched Kodi's motionless body. He quickly ran over and tried to cover Kodi, to get him out of the sun, and Boris helped why spreading his wings over him.

"Uh.. Water! He needs water!" Balto said.

"Good idea! But where to get water in a desert?"

"I don't know! You stay here. I will find water if it's the last thing I do!" Balto was already running, and yelled that back to Boris.

"Good luck kiddo..." Boris said as he looked down at Kodi.

Balto ran full speed, the sand making it require much more effort to do so, as he sniffed hopelessly at the air, searching for water. Nothing.

This never ending semi-desert reaped havoc on two husky/wolf mixes that were bred for cold - not heat - and whose thick insulating fur was like wearing a thick jacket even though it was well past 80F here, roasting them alive in their own skin. All three were hopelessly misinformed and had no idea how to deal with this, as they were all completely out of their element.

Nevertheless, Balto pressed on, determined to seek shelter, or find water for Kodi. Not caring if he ran himself dead, as long as he was living, he'd spend it searching for water to help Kodi.

"What is..." Balto muttered under his breath.

Far ahead was a nicely groomed tree and actual green grass! It was a spring, something that the deserts of Kazakhstan's were known for, and a godsend for Balto.

"Oh thank god..." Balto said. He howled as loud as his lungs would allow, because he knew Boris could hear it. Sure enough, within thirty seconds, Boris shot out from behind a sand dune. Balto barked as Boris flew down to meet him, but he kept running, quickly for the spring. Boris was confused, what did Balto find that was so important? There was nothing out here for miles... Not to Balto, though.

His smile disappeared quickly as he neared the spring... It was nonexistent. Balto had no knowledge of what a mirage was, so this was pretty much a mind-twist to him.

"What? What! No, no no no NO! Where did it go?!" Balto screamed. He frantically began shoveling sand from under him, using great amounts of energy to desperately reach the water that he _thought_ was underground.

"Balto, there's nothing here..." Boris said as he placed a wing over his shoulder.

"Now make your way back, I have to get back to Kodi incase scavengers think he is a meal."

"Not yet he isn't..." Balto said in a low tone.

Boris patted him on the back and took off.

Balto growled in frustration and ran, ran and ran. He must have covered many miles in the short time that has passed, and amazingly, something other than everlasting sand and the occasional dead bush appeared. Large chain link fences covered by electric barbed wire and inside were many buildings, this was a huge compound.

"Finally..." Balto said.

He read the sign that was not in Russian, but was somewhat understandable: "Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы", it said Baikonur Cosmodrome: unauthorized personnel not allowed within the walls. You will be tranquilized and taken off of the property and given fine for trespassing on government property - national security.

"_Man these guys are serious..." _ I thought.

It didn't matter though; I needed to get help for Kodi. I barked and howled a bit to get attention, and saw that I did get someone's attention.

A man was perched on top of a flat building; he had a rifle in one hand, and binoculars in another hand. He slowly looked down the scope of his rifle at Balto, who was jumping and howling, desperate for help.

He activated the radio beacon on his shoulder and spoke into it while staring at the mysterious barking wolf across the fence.

"Hey, uh, command? There seems to be a dog... Or a wolf or something outside of north fence. He's barking and howling like crazy. "

"Well, leave him be, if he isn't doing harm, ignore it." They replied.

"Understood." Then he turned the radio off.

He looked back down the scope of the barrel at Balto, the wolf dog frantically trying to get the man's attention by barking and howling.

"Hmm... I wonder what he wants..." He muttered to himself.

He shrugged his shoulders and turned back around to his post.

"_Great, he's ignoring me now... I can sense someone else there..." _Balto thought, and decided to try something.

I jumped at the fence, attempting to climb it, but fell. It did what I wanted though, made the guard look back at me.

"What the hell is he doing now..." The guard looked back down his scope at me.

I barked happily at him, hoping he got the message, but he didn't, and instead turned back to his post.

"_Great... I need to get his attention somehow..." _I Thought.

I tried to take a step forward, but as soon as my foot touched the ground, my head began pounding.

"_Oh god what is happening..." _My mind was phasing in and out, like someone was unplugging it from the wall.

"I need... Help... Kodi... Help-" I yelled, but I had enough, my font legs gave away first, as my muzzle collided with the concrete floor, my back legs fell and I flipped over onto my back. I was still conscious for the moment, and I started breathing heavily and very quickly. The searing concrete floor was cooking me like and egg on a sidewalk, and the unforgiving sun above continued piercing my eyes. I started seeing multiple lines across the sky, I could see the fence near the top of my vision begin to twist and pulsate.

Then finally, I felt a cold way out, like, I were to stand and walk a few feet away, I would be back home, back to my favorite -10C temperature. I let it get to me, and smiled as my eyes shut and my brain went into hibernation.

Heat exhaustion is no fun game.

Boris continued to lay with Kodi, muttering in worried Russian words as he used his feathers to fan Kodi off for the past hour now.

"_Come on boychik, I know you're a hero." _Boris hopelessly cheered Balto on, unknowing to him, Balto had already passed out like Kodi did.

Boris continued fanning Kodi and keeping the sun off of his face, as a truck rolled up right over the sand dune ahead of him, without out time to run, and not wanting to leave Kodi, Boris chose to not move at all. He stared down the human that got out of the truck, but cocked his head in confusion as another dog to out of the passenger side.

1957

At this point there was a noticeable amount of moisture and water buildup in my cabin… Most of it coming from my saliva that would normally drip from my tongue. The thermometer seemed to be frozen at 41C, whether or not it was a glitch didn't matter. I could not stand this heat much longer. I thought about the last time I endured such extreme, it was back when I tried hopelessly to save Kodiak. I remembered running… Running as fast as I could, desperately trying to find water for my son.

*sigh*"_Well, at least it's a bit cooler outside of direct sunlight…" _

It also meant that I couldn't enjoy the view outside. I could stare at the never-changing globe before me forever. Noting the various rivers, oceans, land formations that I could see. I peaked over the corner of the window, the blinding son was maybe halfway across my path of orbit, and I had another hour to endure.

I looked down over Baikonur now; once again thinking about who might be down there, wondering if I was alive, whether or not the soviet government had already announced my supposed "Death".

I knew it wouldn't happen, in such a time like this, what with the Cold War being a threat, Soviets wouldn't announce a failure like this.

I peered out of my window a bit further, the farthest I've ever gotten, and pretty much smushing my face on the glass, as I caught sight of something on the outside of my cabin.

It was a busted Radio dish, something hit it with enough force to bend it and chip off a good portion of it.

_"Huh…"_

I looked far to the left now, and caught sight of one of the four metallic poles that extended out behind the cabin, again, one of those were damaged as well.

"_I wonder what happened…"_

Just then a HUGE crack and smash rocked the cabin so loud that it caused me to scream involuntarily. The cabin echoed from the collision, a full minute later, as I took the time to control my breathing and skyrocketing heartbeat.

"_What in the hell was that?"_ I looked over and saw what had happened.

The once pure glass panel separating life from the cold death of space, now had a tiny fragment embedded into it, and the entire glass was cracked from one side to the other.

"_That… Can't be good."_

My face was literally inches from the impact, I was thinking about how lucky I was as I examined the crater.

The collision produced a circular hole 4 inches in diameter on the outside panel, and completely shattered the rest. Only two panels of 3 inch-thick glass was keeping me alive.

I looked for what had caused it, but all that could be seen was a tiny rock, maybe a millimeter wide, embedded into the second pane of glass.

"_Holy crap, that tiny speck caused this?"_

I shook my head at the impact, simply impressed, and worried at the same time. I jumped at a sound, a short-burst beeping sound came from an instrument on the wall, and within seconds, it began to expel something into my cabin.

* * *

**Go ahead and leave a comment on what YOU think will/should happen to _both _sides. Should there be a light, PG-rated sex scene (yes, that is possible) between the two lovers? Should Kodi go into space instead? WHOA, PLOT-TWIST FTW!**


	10. Chapter 10

**The following 2 chapters will be longer, and dedicated to "planet-side" Balto, to tie together Jenna and Balto's connection. We shall join Balto in space on chapter 12, for there are **_**still**_** more dangers that nobody could have predicted for the first dog to go to space. Don't get confused by the new character, Kevin. He's just a useless rookie that I gave a name so I could refer to him as a name, he does nothing important and is a useless character… OR IS HE?**

Spring, 1957, stranger.

Kevin stood his post on top of a building, a flat hard surface with only a weak plastic chair to sit on. There was a spot for him to be out of the sun, known as the sniper's box, but he rarely ever used it. His rifle was an early form of today's modern snipers and he used it to keep watch for intruders, like Balto currently was...

Kevin looked down his scope one more time at the body that lies outside of the gate. It was the same wolf from earlier, but now he was... Sleeping?

He sighed and whistled quickly to signal his partner. She came running, but not on two, shoe covered feet, no, she came running on four paws, responding to her masters' call.

"Come on girl, let's go investigate." Kevin said with a sigh to Jenna.

She was not his dog, but was a highly trained canine officer assigned to help with his post. This was due for two reasons: The soviets did not expect anything to happen anyway, and only put four guard posts for the entire base. The second reason was more of their own little test. Jenna was not only highly trained, she is "altered".

After the Second World War, the soviets let free German POW's. Some just decided to stay and work for the soviet space program, like Van Braun did for the Americans.

Jenna was altered mentally and physically. Very minor on the outside, but internally, she can be programmed like a computer, her amazing brain that can pick up on cues much quicker than the average dog makes her easy to train. Physically, increased hormones and ATP receptors mean that she can run for hours without feeling fatigued, or deal with 100 degree heat for long periods of time without a problem. Her bones also absorb much more calcium, as a result, her bone density is almost 40% the average dog, and she also requires a bowl of milk every now and then.

She barked in response as Kevin turned on his radio.

"Base, station 4, going to investigate "gold" outside the wall."

Gold was an old mining reference, to the town of which the base got its name from. Baikonur. The mining town heavily dealt with Zinc deposits, but every once and a while miners would yell "GOLD", which never meant actual gold, it simply meant that there was something other than Zinc that needed to be looked at by a professional. Nearly 10% of the towns mining income comes from minerals other than Zinc now, because of that simple code.

"Heh, rookie, you don't really need to use those codes. You're one of only five people on this channel! But, noted, signal if you need help." The security operator replied.

He flipped his radio off in slight annoyance, taking the operators words as a joke. Jenna barked and walked ahead of him, not requiring a leash like she normally would have needed.

By the time they were outside of the gate, Balto was nearly burnt to a crisp, though luckily, not literally. Jenna quickly ran ahead and sniffed at the body, and instantly began to try and shield Balto from the unforgiving sun above.

Kevin took one good look around, the never-ending flat dusty desert that Baikonur was situated, spanned many miles and the Cosmodrome was smack in the middle of it. Where did this guy come from?

"Huh, looks like the heat got to him. He looks more like a husky than I thought. What on earth is he doing in a desert?" He wondered, speaking aloud to Jenna, who, with her advanced brain capacity, probably understood him better than any dog in the world would have right now.

"I'll take him inside, make sure he's alive, _and then_ contact base. Knowing them, they'd probably just tell me to kill the poor thing..."

Jenna barked in happiness as she nudged at Balto's lifeless form. She pulled Balto's neck a bit, seemingly trying to help him lift Balto up as he took one last break with his words.

"Ohhhwww…My son… Few miles north… Please… My son… My…" Balto stammered out without opening his eyes. Jenna could only imagine, but Balto only cared that Kodi was safe, if it meant leaving him here to find Kodi, he'd allow it.

Jenna got the message; she barked around Kevin as he picked up the 60 pound wolfdog and began to walk back to the gate opening. Balto did not react at all to the loud creaky metallic sound of the gate shutting, as he didn't care to lock it back up right now, which was a huge security flaw that would most likely earn him a lecture from the operator if he caught wind of this.

He brought Balto inside the storage building, one of many perfectly square shaped buildings that only hosted a single rectangular window above the metal-framed door. Everything had a lock, so Kevin had to get his keys out while still holding onto the heavy wolfdog, something that proved harder than he thought. As soon as he was ready to celebrate finally choosing the right key, Balto's rear-half slipped his hands and once again, the unconscious dog fell to the ground with a thud.

"Oh crap, oops?" Kevin awkwardly said towards Jenna, who stared him down in disbelief.

"_Did you really just drop an unconscious dog again_…" Jenna thought, wishing she could better express her annoyance towards Kevin.

This time, Kevin decided to get the door open before picking Balto up, at least here was in the shade, covered by the shadow of the building, and the floor beneath him was pretty cool.

As he shuffled through a keychain that held at least 20 keys on a single loop, Jenna further examined the grey wolfdog. He seemed… Peaceful. Nice. like he couldn't hurt a fly. That was better established by the fact that he had no scars, meaning he never got into fights. His body was perfect, and he seemed pretty athletic and agile for his size, as if he were forced to learn to outrun something, and jump ontop of buildings to get around. Jenna looked more at his face; it involuntarily made her blush because he was just too cute for her to believe.

"_Oh man, where have you been all my life?" _Jenna couldn't dismay the thought.

She was all but collapsing under the sudden weight, this random wolfdog that popped up on a boring day; happen to be something that apparently matched her physically and mentally. Hell, she would have called it love at first sight if she could think straight at the moment.

Kevin broke her trance as he expressed happiness at finding the right key with a loud "Aha!". He gently scooped the wolfdog up into his arms and all three entered a cold, air-conditioned room. Kevin kept this room cold for him and Jenna to cool down during breaks, and he also kept a TV in here for… Work.

"Ah, there we go. Let's just set you down on the table… Sorry there isn't something softer to lie down on." He explained, and once again, wondered who he was talking to, then looked at Jenna. She barked in response, making him wonder if he was going crazy.

Jenna was happy that the wolfdog could finally cool down and hopefully recover, but she remembered his words… They were desperate, like he would give his life to save his son, and by extension, Jenna was going to make sure she found whoever the guy was referring too.

Luckily, communication was not much of a problem for Jenna and Kevin. A simple short howl, then bark was all Kevin needed to understand that she wanted him to follow her.

Kevin sighed and stood up, threw his rifle over his shoulders and followed Jenna outside, closing and locking the door behind him.

"Ugh, what is it girl… I don't want command finding the little guy before he wakes up; they might kill him on the spot!" Kevin replied.

Jenna more or less ignored his words, and ran to the unlocked gate door, nudging it open with her muzzle, then ran off quickly to the North.

Once again, Kevin sighed in mock annoyance, and grabbed his keys. He walked over to the truck parked just outside of the fence, and hopped in. After starting the truck, and getting it into the right gear, he drove off, and quickly caught up with Jenna.

"Jenna, hop in girl, I see you're heading North. What'cha find?" He asked.

Jenna looked at him and jumped into the passenger side of the truck that was going about 5 miles per hour at this point. She eagerly stuck her head out of the right-side, door less opening and used her enhanced vision and sense of smell to pinpoint Kodi and Boris's location. She barked to Kevin to signal where he should drive to, and luckily, he understood her commands.

Within minutes, Kevin caught sight of the two, another downed wolf, and… A Russian Snow Goose fanning him? He had to rub his eyes to make sure he didn't go crazy.

Jenna barked as he slowed the truck to a stop.

Boris stared Kevin down, and Kevin did the same. He examined the wolf and quickly connected that he was most likely related to the other wolf he took in. He and Jenna jumped out and walked over to the two, while Boris did not lose his ground, and was determined to stay with Kodi.

"Stay back!" Boris yelled at Jenna.

Jenna barked at Kevin, signaling him not to move forward.

"It's okay, we won't hurt you. In fact, we're here to help, and by the looks of it, I think your friend here could benefit from it." Jenna quickly and expertly announced to the goose.

Boris was good at reading intentions, and almost instantly, he recognized the genuine concern in her voice. She meant no harm.

"Okay… But I am warning you!"

"Don't worry. Was there another of your group? Another wolf or husky, or mix?" Jenna tried her best at flushing the images of the wolfdog she probably loved out of her mind.

"Yes… My son, Balto. Is he okay? Did… Did you capture him? Are you going to kill him? And do the same with us!? I won't let it happen you-"

"Calm down goose… He is safe and sound in a cool building. He's succumbed to Heat-Exhaustion, and so has this little guy too. If we don't cool him down soon, his brain will shut down, and he will go into cardiac arrest."

Boris looked down at Kodi again, wondering if he was dead, then looked back up at Jenna.

"Okay… I'll help bring him to the truck."

"No need." Jenna replied.

With a bark, she ran over to Kodi and gently nudged his form with her muzzle, and Kevin got this message. He walked over and scooped Kodi up like he did with Balto, and walked him back to the truck.

Boris quickly flew back to Kodi's side, continuing to fan him in attempts to cool him off.

"So while we head back, who are you guys?" Jenna asked.

Boris hesitated, but once again detected the caring in Jenna's voice, picking up on the tiniest of gestures.

"We are from Creznov. And we are all family." Boris explained quick and detail-strict.

"You're a goose! No way you are related to wolves?"

"Well, the term adoptive father fits better."

"Oh, you've adopted this little guy?"

"It's... A bit more complicated." Boris said as he put his wing up to his beak.

"That other wolf dog, his name is Balto and-"

"_Balto..." _Jenna registered that name with a certain wolfdog back at the base, one she could not stop thinking about. She absentmindedly looked beyond Boris, who was still talking, and snapped back before she missed something important.

"-and he was all alone! I took him to an abandoned trawler and raised him as my own, for I did love the little tyke."

"You and I both..." Jenna muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing." She replied quickly as she looked away.

"Okay... And continuing, this here is Kodi." Boris said with a gesture towards the unconscious wolf in the front seat. "He is the son of Balto's niece, but his father ran off before he was even born. Balto is pretty much his father, and he even calls Kodi his son."

"_Wow, and he's caring and accepting of a child that isn't even his!" _Jenna thought.

"So all in all, we are one weird, jumbled up line of adoptive fathers! Both of which, are much too old for this..." Boris said as he stood and stretched, creating audible cracks in his back.

"I think it's cute, and heartwarming to see that you and Balto are such caring and selfless of a child that wasn't your problem to begin with."

"Ha! Selfless, you ain't heard nothing until you hear about Balto's selflessness!" Boris said with his wing still under his beak.

"Oh, do go on. We're still a few miles out. And I'm interested in hearing about Balto."

Boris was a very wise goose, he knew what love was, he knew how to detect it, and boy was this dog spewing out love signals all over the place.

"_Heheh, Balto you've got yourself an admirer." _Pros thought with a smile, not caring that Jenna saw.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"So tell me!"

"Okay okay. Well, it shouldn't be hard to believe. I raised him after all" Boris chuckled.

"It was a few years back, Balto was only about a year old, and he was on his first ever hunt!"

The next five minutes were spent by Boris happily recalling the events that made him know he raised the kid right. It was from that point that Boris never doubted Balto's selflessness, like if he were to be the town's only hope, say the children of a town came down with a virus, he would save them if it meant death to himself as long as he brought back the antidote.

**(Teehee! Original Universe reference:)**

Jenna was locked onto every syllable that came from the goose's beak. She was very interested in this story, and quite frankly, she rarely ever encountered other dogs after she stopped training with them over a year ago. Balto was like an angel, perfect for her in every aspect. She learned that he even shared her adventurous spirit after Boris explained how he so wanted to go into space himself.

But he left out anything to do with Laika, already preparing a cover story for if Jenna asked about Kodi's mother.

"So what about Kodi's mother?"

"_Damn..." _Boris thought.

"Oh... That is... I don't want to talk-"

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to bring it up. Once again, I greatly admire both you and Balto for taking care of this little pup. He doesn't look much older than a few months... About the same age I was separated from my parents..." Jenna finished off.

Boris sighed and placed a wing around Jenna.

"I know how it is. And that is why I didn't want Balto to ever feel abandoned. And Balto wanted to make sure Kodi didn't feel the same way. Such is life..." Boris said as he patted Jenna's back.

Kevin was more or less ignoring Jenna and the goose and thought about what he had to do next. He couldn't keep them in the storage room forever, and it'd be nearly impossible to take then off of the property right now without gaining suspicion. He was probably already going to be yelled at for leaving his post so long. Still, he felt the need to help these animals, since that was what he always wanted to do, be a veterinarian. Unfortunately his father sought otherwise.

The compound was in sight, and the huge dust cloud that the truck shot out behind it was met with a dust cloud as the truck came to a stop before the outside gate. As soon as he turned the truck off, Jenna and Boris jumped out. Kevin picked up Kodi and brought him to the gate, this time successfully gaining his access keys and opening the care, and sharing similar success with the storage room door. He gently placed Kodi down beside Balto and closed the door behind him. Fanning himself off for a few minutes before returning outside.

"You stay here girl, maybe they will feel more comfortable if a dog was talking to them rather than a human with a gun haha" Kevin pat Jenna on the head once and then slipped out of the door, locking it again.

"Well then, Boris. Looks like we've got time to kill. Anything else you'd like to share?" Jenna genuinely asked and lay down on her front paws, interested in hearing more stories, more-so about the larger wolfdog on the table above.

"Oh boy do I have stories. And I'm assuming its of Balto you'd like to hear more about?" Boris said with an eyebrow raised.

"Hey, what do you mean by that?"

"Look, I'm goose, not a rock. I can see it in your eyes every time I say Balto. Balto, Balto, Balto, Bal-"

Boris was cut off by Jenna sprinting to him like lightning and shoving a paw over his beak.

"Shut it goose!" Jenna said.

She instantly retracted herself and lay down in apology.

"I'm... Sorry. This is new to me, and you reading me doesn't help..." Jenna replied to the goose like she was a tiny pup. When in reality, she was just a few years younger than Balto.

"I know how you feel. Well, I won't hold out anymore. Perhaps you'd like to know the _real _reason we are all here today?" Boris teased. Jenna nodded quickly with a smile, loving any story Boris would tell.

Boris slowly moved his beak to Jenna, putting a wing over the left side, even though nobody was around to hear it.

"Balto is here to help Laika!" Boris said quietly.

"What? You mean the spacedog their training? Why would he need to help her?"

"Laika is Balto's niece, and Kodi's mother."

"Uh..."

"Like I said, balto is not his real father."

"Weird indeed... So Laika and Balto are..." Jenna instantly wished she could retract her stupid assumption… Uncle and Niece pairing up to have Kodi… How stupid jealousy made her think sometimes.

"Balto is her uncle, no more, no less. But he did raise Kodi like he was own son. I am so proud of him..."

Boris looked over at the sleeping balto with a prideful smile.

"_Oh... Just when I thought he wasn't perfect..." Jenna thought with a flirtatious smile._

Katja and Fredrik.

**(Quick Katja and Fredrik update just to tie things up.)**

Katja and Fredrik were driving in his truck down a long dusty road from the base to Baikonur. A town, from which the compound got its name, was actually nearly 40 miles northeast of it. Luckily, Marci's message got through; she had leased a temporary place for the three to live in while Fredrik completed his mission. They would be here until Laika is sent into space at the end of the year.

"Ah, it was really nice to see Laika again... It really was. I don't know how much I missed her."

"Yeah… I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little scared for her going into space..."

"So that's it then? She's really going to space?"

"Yep. She has been chosen for her neutral temperament and loyalty." Fredrik mocked the scientist in charge with a German type accent.

Katja laughed a bit at his mock accent, but she was still saddened by the news.

"That also happened to be why I loved her..." She said with a sigh.

"We really did a great job raising her... Didn't we?" Fredrik said.

"Yeah... We did." Katja smiled at him.

Fredrik sighed and made a few manly grunts, obviously pushing away any tears. Katja caught into this and decided to change the subject, for I would just sadden her further too.

"Me and Marci aren't the only ones who came along to Baikonur."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I brought Balto and Laika's son."

"Balto? Why would you bring him?"

"Wasn't my decision. Me and Marci came out to the truck and he, Laika's son and a goose were in the back.

"A goose?"

"Anyway, I think they knew we were going to see Laika. She is their family after-all... I couldn't deny them, I missed Laika the same."

Fredrick stayed quiet, and so did Katja. No doubt thinking the same things, feeling the same way... Missing the same dog already. Katja looked out the window at what she thought was a goose in the sky as it circled high above. Marking it as most likely a vulture, she instantly began to think about what poor thing died and was simply food for scavengers at this point. It reminded her of Laika, oddly enough. She knew that Laika would die up there. Not because of what the scientists told her, but she knew something would go wrong.

She looked over many miles west of the road and saw what she believed was a dog... No, a wolf... No. She thought she saw Balto, running full speed back the way they came from, back towards the base. She closed her eyes and rubbed them, not believing what she saw, and looked one more time. He was gone.

"After you left that night Balto came over... He was looking for Laika, but she was gone. I couldn't understand him, but I knew we felt the same way. Both of us missed Laika already. I let him stay the night... He slept in Laika's room... He slept in Laika's bed..."

Fredrik kept his eyes ahead, trying not to pry on sad thoughts.

"Balto's a good dog. Just because he's part wolf does not mean a damn thing. We both know Laika also shared that half..." Katja continued.

"It was about 4 AM... I woke to him making noise in the other room; turns out he was still trying to sniff out Laika. I grabbed a smoke and joined him looking out the window and he showed me what a wolf was capable of. He howled... Howled into the night... Not giving care to anything else but that moment... That song... That beautiful song that was tainted with despair and longing for Laika."

"Wow... You should write poetry." Fredrik joked, and Katja smiled and turned to him just in time to see him wipe, what he would always deny, a tear from his eyes.

"Yeah, well... I suppose we could take him in. And that other little guy that everyone resents. Laika's little boy that nobody wanted." Fredrik said.

"Kodiak" Katja said, not exactly sure where she got the name from.

Katja took time to organize her thoughts. She seemed to think a lot, because by the time she decided to speak, they were already entering the town of Baikonur.

It was a small settlement, tiny, at the time, it was only used to station miners and their families as amazingly rich Zinc-reserves were discovered not too far away. But now it was being upgraded, becoming the host now for cosmonauts and their families as well as scientists, trainers, mechanics, engineers, even janitors all who worked at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. They pulled up on a traffic-less street that led right in between two identical flats built for cheap housing. Luckily Marci wasn't going to choose such a place for them live. They both cringed up at the sight of the poorer housing, not out of ignorance or insensitivity, but out of experience. The couple had struggled a great value in their earlier years, back after the war when they met, a 1 bedroom apartment was way out of the question, and they had to live with another family in a cramped, electricity-less room with one bathroom.

"Marci got us a good house." Katja said quickly before their past was brought up.

"Good, good..." Fredrik said.

After a while of navigating the roads, they soon started to enter an obviously better part of town, and a light blue house stood out above the rest, as it was the only one that had a second story above the rest. Marci's truck was parked out in the driveway, signaling that they've reached the correct house.

"Ah, there we are. Nice, hopefully air-conditioned house. I'd much love to come back here after work than drive 1200 miles north." Fredrik said with a laugh.

They pulled up in the driveway and Marci caught their sounds before the truck even stopped, and ran outside to meet them.

"Welcome to your new home!" Marci yelled into the closed window.

"It's only temporary Marci!" She said as soon as they got out of the truck.

Fredrik smiled and shook her hand, thanking her for bringing Katja, and the three walked inside, both women eager to hear what cool and amazing works Fredrik was up to at the Cosmodrome, and bombarded him with questions before they even reached the door, to which he was annoyed, but happily answered them all, even what would have been classified, it didn't matter to him. Meanwhile, another guy was being questioned back at the base.

Balto, 1957, still gets nightmares, huh?

I felt this… Burning sensation all over my body, like my very fur was being heated to the point where I melted skin. It felt... Dulled... Like I was not suffering anywhere near as much as I should have. I finally paid attention to my surroundings... I was, yet again, trapped in some metallic sphere that was being torn apart from the outside, like a monster was trying to get to me but I was protected by something. And that metallic casing was not going to survive. I screamed before the last metal panel broke free, screaming and praying that I wouldn't die, that I'd get the chance to speak to my family again.

Everything froze. But I kept muttering... "Please let me live... I want to live... I want to live..." I repeated hundreds of times without opening my eyes. When I did, I looked at who was staring at me... It was a red and white dog... Maybe a husky mix or something. She was beautiful... Perfect... Like an angel in disguise. She spoke, but I could not hear her. Maybe I did, I don't know, but all that mattered was that I watched her perfect movements, each slight movement of her face as she expressed... Worry?

Before I even acknowledged her presence she disappeared and the metallic panel that was keeping me alive exploded and melted. For the tiniest period of time, the world was in view, I was maybe 10 miles in the atmosphere, colliding with the trillions of atoms the worked to slow me down, but fast enough to burn me to a crisp. This moment disappeared quickly, and all that I could see next was... Nothing. But through the darkness... I heard something... A voice…

_"That's why I hate war..."_

* * *

**^This bothers me... It's supposed to be aligned to the right to give it a little more unique feeling... But apparently this site does not like right aligned text for some idiotic reason...**


	11. Chapter 11

Boris and Jenna

Boris and Jenna already found a way to entertain themselves while they waited. Jenna was showing off her security vest and everything that it had on it. Then she began to talk about her adventures on the base, and training and so on. Then, when they really got bored, Jenna introduced Boris to television. Long-story short, he hated it just as much as Balto did.

"So these Americans practice hiding under desks in case of a nuclear strike? From us? Ha!" Boris said as he watched a commercial from an American station.

"Yeah... That's why I hate war. Humans and their stupid problems... It's all so petty."

Boris opened his mouth to speak, but not before Balto made a noise.

Balto groaned and started making various sounds, before finally wheezing and coughing up dry air.

"Balto my boy!" Boris yelled and ran to his side.

"W...water..."

"Of course... He must be greatly dehydrated." Jenna said

"Jenna?" Balto said with a hoarse voice.

"Yes, Balto. How do you know my name?"

"I've... Seen you before..." Balto said with a quiet voice, and didn't open his eyes.

Jenna stood with her mouth open for a second just at this statement. She had not seen him conscious before, but he could have easily overheard her name while he was out and maybe in his unconscious state he "saw" her.

"Is that so?" Jenna said absentmindedly.

Boris, still a bit confused, did not find water for Balto, and came back empty handed and disappointed

"Bathroom, Boris... Uh, I'll get it then." Jenna said after realizing that he could not open the door, let alone activate the faucet.

Jenna jumped at the door and pulled the lever open with her mouth, after a few tries, she gained access, and quickly jumped up onto the sink, again, using her mouth to lift the faucet lever up, releasing the cool refreshing water.

"Now how do I get it to him?" Jenna asked Boris.

"I don't know we would need a bowl or-" Boris was cut off by Balto's struggling to stand. He got up, jumped off of the table, falling to his face on accident.

Boris offered to help, to which Balto shook his head, and then he stood again. His head was still pounding, terribly pulsating with every heartbeat, threatening to burst if he pulled too much pressure to it. It was kind of like a bad hangover... Only many times worse.

Both Jenna and Boris watched in awe as he walked to the sink, and, after bending down for nearly ten seconds, sprung up and jumped the three feet to the sink counter. He instantly began to lap up the water directly from the faucet.

"Well then. Looks like Balto solves things on his own." Jenna said to Boris.

"He does that... Quite a lot." Boris replied annoyed.

Balto, now satisfied with a full belly of water, and probably not much more, considering he hasn't eaten in two days, jumped off of the counter to meet Jenna and Boris.

"Hey guys." Balto awkwardly said.

"Hey... Enjoy your little nap?" Boris said.

"Heat exhaustion is not like a nap... It's terrible... And if he spent just ten more minutes out in the sun, he probably wouldn't be alive right now..." Jenna keenly explained.

"Oh no... Kodi was out much longer than that!"

Balto, still injured, jumped up next to Kodi and examined him.

"Uh... Water again!"

Balto jumped down and desperately looked for something to hold water. He found a few vodka square shaped flasks under the radio desk, and grabbed both with his teeth.

"Uh, Balto?" Jenna said

Balto ignored her and jumped up at the sink again. He filled one of them and jumped back down. Ignoring the gazes from Jenna and Boris, he ran up to Kodi and tipped the bottle in his mouth, pouring the cool water over his face and neck. Unknowingly to Balto, it was still heavily contaminated with Vodka.

Still though, it worked. Kodi soon returned consciousness and began coughing, most likely due to the water poured all over him.

"Dad?" Kodi finally said.

"I'm here son... Now drink up. You need it a lot."

"Balto doesn't know what vodka is, doesn't he?" Jenna whispered to Boris.

"What is vodka?" Boris asked.

"Never mind then... You'll see soon enough."

Kodi quickly drunk every last drop out of that bottle, and Balto quickly jumped up and filled the second bottle and brought that to Kodi.

"This was already half full, drink up quickly." Balto explained after Kodi shot him a curious look as to how he filled it so fast.

"Half full with this vodka I presume?" Boris said with a wing covering his left side towards Jenna.

"Yeah..."

"Oh my..." Boris said with a slight smile.

"Dad... Thank you for saving me."

"Of course son. Whatever it takes." Balto said as he stroked his fur on his neck.

"Such a loving father." Jenna said aloud.

"Oh no, I'm not his father."

"I know. Boris explained everything... And might I say... I love what you're doing.

"Really... How much, exactly did Boris spill?" Balto said with a slight growl towards Boris.

"He told me... Everything."

"Great... So I assume that is why we are being held prisoner."

"No, you can leave. This isn't even a police building; it's just a storage room. And like I said, I support everything you want to do... I'll... Even help you."

"Is that so?" Balto asked with a smile.

"Yeah... Obviously you can't do what you are planning to do, let alone get away with it, with no help!" Jenna said.

"Dad... Dad... I still feel sick and... Happy... The best thing ever... I love this table!"

"What is that son?"

"Oh great, here we go..." Jenna whispered to Boris, who giggled a bit.

"This table... It's so nice."

"Yes it is a very good table... Are you okay?"

"Of course dad... But why don't we ever just hang out like and play and stuff..."

"We can play later. Right now we-"

"That's boring... Oh dad I can howl now!" Kodi slurred his speech together, and lifted his head in the air, mocking the way Balto did it, and then howled crazily. It was disturbing to say the least... He didn't hold a single pitch for more than a split second, varying in intensity and pitch... Then he fell over again on his back laughing.

"The was... Good, I guess." Balto said.

He quickly jumped down to Jenna and got in her face, threatening her with his teeth.

"What was in that water! What is wrong with my son!" Balto yelled.

"Balto it's fine! He's just a little... Drunk." Jenna said then burst into laughing with Boris.

"Drunk? Oh my god Kodi!" He jumped onto the table, and propped Kodi in a sitting position. He looked at his face, eyes squinted, mouth slightly open... And dripping a lot of saliva onto the table.

"Kodi?"

"Hey dad you wanna race?" Kodi said.

"Not now..."

But Kodi already stood. He got up and jumped down onto the floor, landing or while completely wasted, when Balto couldn't land it earlier without busting his face on the floor.

"Around the room!" Kodi yelled in happiness.

Jenna mocked interest and joined Kodi with a giggle.

"This ought to be interesting..." Boris said to a worry-faced Balto next to him.

"On your mark...get...go...just go I don't care."

Kodi said then ran off, joined by Jenna, as they turned the first corner... Well Jenna did, Kodi on the other hand, ran head first into the metallic door, creating a loud noise, then fell in the process on his back.

"Kodi!" Balto ran to his side as he was humming a song and chasing something invisible with his paws above him.

"Dad... I love you man..."

"I love you too son." Balto thought it was a bit weird of him to say it now, but accepted it.

"No, I mean I freaking love you like... I would kick a bunch of dogs butts to you if you need help." Kodi stammered his speech as he continued to lie on the floor, drunk.

"Aww, that was sweet." Jenna said

"Yes, boy handles his liquor well!" Boris joked, and then laughed even more.

"Heh, so far Kodi has gotten drunk more times than I have in his short life." Balto said to Jenna.

"You've never tried human liquor before for fun?" Jenna asked.

"Not exactly. I wasn't really welcome around humans in my hometown, so no access to their... Beverages. And that was just one reason. I don't think its right either. I've seen humans on the stuff; they act completely insane, kind of like how Kodi is right now." Balto finished off.

"Hey I'm no crazy... Just young and wild and freeeee!" Kodi stretched out the "eeee" indefinitely.

"My point exactly... He's so young... Should he be drinking more water right now?"

"He'll be fine Balto. Don't you worry. If he was much smaller then maybe we'd panic, but sheesh, he's only a few months old and already a head taller than me!" Jenna explained.

"Just let him filter it out on his own, and enjoy the buzz it gives him. Unless it knocks him out cold, then let that happen too." Jenna added, and turned to Boris, who was still completely entertained by the event.

Balto smiled and looked at Kodi, who was still flailing his front paws in the air above him, chasing an invisible entity.

"I'm glad he's safe, at least. He was out in the sun much longer than I was..."

Jenna looked at him with a keen smile, as if he was really a true hero in the form of a gray wolf dog in front of her. She even liked his smile, and not too surprisingly, Balto instantly fell in love with hers as well.

"You really did run yourself nearly to death to save your son."

"Of course, I'd do anything for him."

"He's your... Son." Jenna asked, putting emphasis on the word son, showing that it was a question.

"He might as well be. I love him like he was my son, I raised him like he was mine, hell, he even looks more like me than his own... Father."

"What happened to his father anyway?"

"Deadbeat bastard that ditched Laika when he found out he got her pregnant..."

Jenna wondered what the connection was with Laika, how Kodi and Balto looked like wolves more, yet Laika was a small terrier-looking dog. What an interesting family.

"Tell me about Laika. All I know is that she's little short of a celebrity amongst the canine world."

"Well, she is the daughter of my step brother, who happened to be much more husky than wolf. That and he mated with a terrier, husky mix, makes Laika almost a pure dog. In a way, I also helped raise her, me and Boris."

"How old are you anyway?"

"Should be six soon." Balto seemingly counted on his paws.

"I feel like a pup, I'm only two. And my childhood was spent training."

"Don't feel envious of me... Up until just a few months ago, I was an outcast amongst my town. No human ever wanted anything to do with me because of my half wolf side..."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's all in the past now. Who knows, maybe after I save Laika, me and Kodi will finally have a human family to stay with."

"I hope it happens."

"What does it matter to you?"

"Look, I just met you guys, but you're all good people. You especially, selfless, caring, brave, strong... Handsome..."

Jenna rambled on, earning a raised eyebrow from Balto. Jenna shut up and looked into his deep yellow eyes; they seemed to go on forever into eternity, as his pupils were dark as asphalt. Balto stared back, equally thrown into a trance that cannot be broken by any physical force. Her eyes were the perfect shade of bright blue, typical husky coloring around her eyes caused them to stand out even more.

Kodi broke their moment with a long fart, and then continued snoring.

"Oh, I'm sorry I must have been rambling..."

"It's... Okay. Allow me to return the compliments." Balto smiled.

"Jenna... I wanted to say that you are just too damn beautiful." He added.

Jenna blushed and looked down slightly, she wasn't embarrassed, more "it's about time" sort of feeling.

"Well that seemed out of nowhere..." Boris said.

Balto turned back and stared him down angrily.

"I'll just... Go check on Kodi."

Boris waddled his way across the room to where Kodi lay on his back sleeping; he was wafting a wing as he got closer due to Kodi's fart... But had to ignore it and checked Kodi to make sure he was only sleeping.

Balto and Jenna on the other hand turned their entire world upside down, they were no longer blind, for in the short time they've known each other, they knew it was right. Like, they were supposed to be together, just separated by 1200 miles all their lives. Maybe in another universe, another time perhaps, another city, they were supposed to be in the same town, fall in love, have kids, a family, a home, and spend their lives together.

"Balto... You-" Jenna began to speak, but was cut off.

Frank busted the door open like he was breaking into the building, a habit that he admittedly wanted to quit. It caused everyone to jump, except for Kodi of course.

"Hey! Looks like one of them turned out alright... You aren't going to bite me are you..." Frank said, still hiding behind the door."

Balto barked in response.

"I knew you weren't a wolf, or at least full wolf. Wolves don't bark haha."

Frank walked over to Balto, and he lowered his ears to show that he was nice. Frank patted his head, then picked up Balto's left paw and acted like he was checking his pulse, when in reality, he was just seeing how huge paws Balto had.

"Good thing you're awake... My boss might be coming over for god knows why, and I don't think he'll like to see two wolves and a goose in his shed..."

"Let's go. I'll just drive you guys to the kennel! They'll let you stay there for a while."

"Kennel?" Balto asked Jenna.

"A horrible place... But it's safe there. And, while we're there I can give you all the details and information you will need to do what you need to do." Jenna said with a smile.

Frank picked Kodi up once again, and brought him outside, as the rest followed, and jumped in the car.

"Hey... This one smells like Vodka."

Before frank could get a better smell, Kodi's head fell over his arm and he threw up, lucky missing Frank completely.

"Whoa! It was just my imagination; he is still showing signs of heat exhaustion... We gotta take him to the vet..."

Balto and Jenna giggled a bit, they knew he threw up because of the large amount of alcohol he recently ingested, but Frank was at least right about throwing up being a major sign of Heat exhaustion. Maybe he wasn't a stupid rookie like his boss said after all.

Balto enjoyed the ride, mostly because Jenna was there with him, and in the short time he's known her, it became apparent that she was the right girl for him. He shook his head at the thought, instantly rejecting himself.

"_I'm just a lonely old wolf dog... And the first female that pays attention to me, I fall in love with... Pathetic." _

The two were very much synchronized, with Jenna, not too surprisingly thinking the same thing...

"_I'm taking things way too far ahead... I'm just a lonely girl who's spent the better half of her life in training... Then this guy comes out of the blue and I end up falling in love with him... Knowing his age, he's most likely got a wife or girlfriend back home..."_

Both Balto and Jenna sighed almost at the same time, and something seemed to click in each other's head. Balto turned first, matching eyes with Jenna, he seemed completely unknowing as to what he should do, and Jenna was in the exact same position. Both canines, locked onto each other instantly as soon as she laid eyes on him, and he saw her in his dreams. The bond the two would share was dependent on how the next moment went. One could either break the stare, earning a confused emotion or awkward smile from the other, and it would spiral downwards from there.

Luckily that did not happen. Balto made the first move, coming in closer, taking in her scent, its powerful essence registering itself into the inner depths of his mind in order to keep it there forever.

She moved closer, sensing his intentions, wishing so much that they would indeed share a kiss, love, maybe even a future together.

Boris kept his eyes on the two too, though not so that they would directly feel embarrassed by the audience, but enough so that he could measure each of the two. True love, it was all he could think of.

_"You go for it Balto boy. She's a keeper." _Boris thought to himself, wearing a prideful expression as he watched the two inch closer.

Each millimeter that separated the two was very significant, taking so much time to formulate words, Balto simply chose to shut up and do the damn thing already.

Following on Balto's lead, Jenna opened her own mouth and the two finally locked in a kiss. The perfect first kiss for the first couple. To both they were the first, last and only other that mattered in the world right now. Balto was more or less shocked by the event, not only was he never with another female, but up until a few months ago, he rarely ever spoke to another dog or wolf.

Jenna, on the other hand knew it was right. She played with his dead mouth, he obliviously being much less experienced in a kiss, and she made a note the she had to teach him sometime.

Eventually, the moment they shared had to come to an end, with both of their eyes closed, they separated. Pure love, exchanged via a kiss that lasted well over a minute.

Balto smiled, knowing that Jenna felt the same way he did, and so did Jenna, now knowing Balto shared her love.

"Well that was quick..." Jenna finally broke.

"Jenna... It felt... Right."

"In assuming you don't have a little lady back home, do ya?" Jenna asked.

Before Balto could answer, Jenna snuggled herself up against his chest, enjoying everything from his soft fur, to the warmth it gave her, to his rapid, but obviously labored breathing.

"I do not. There isn't some big bad dog in town that calls you his mate, is there?"

"There is." Jenna said with mock sadness.

"Oh..."

"But who said I felt the same way?"

Jenna smiled, then did something that still exited Balto, licked him under his chin.

"What do you mean?"

"There's just this glory-hound back at training camp, everyone loves him... Steele. He thinks I'm his trophy, but he's greatly mistaken." Jenna explained. "Over the years he's tried to get me, but he isn't my type. That, granted I'd never respond to such attempts to get into my pants from such an arrogant, egotistical, selfish, mutt who has nothing better in his life than his rewards, that stupid-" Jenna cut herself off.

"Sounds like a nice guy." Balto mocked.

"Yeah, spend about a minute with him and you'll want to slap him just to get him to shut-up!" Jenna laughed.

Balto chuckled a bit at her words, marking them as pretty much the most important words to ever pass through his ears, as they were from the mouth of the girl that, had it been up to him, would be his lifelong mate, and nothing would be able to separate it. Not even space and time.

_"The space part, though..." _Balto thought with a frown.

**I won't abandon this story, and neither have I 'forgive thy enemy'. But I am allocating more of my writing time to my newer stories. I've started on a Horror/CSI type story, and a WALKING DEAD/Balto crossover fic. If you really want stuff to read by me then check those out!**

**I will try and keep Chapter 12 of this not too far away. Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

Narration

Zipping around the earth a over 18,000 kilometers an hour, was the Sputnik II satellite, and its single passenger was lost in his own mind. At this point, he had no idea how long he was here. How long his fur was matted and musty, how long until he ran out of food, how long until the batteries ran out and this metal cabin would be his deathbed...

Most of all, how long until Jenna forgot about him and moved on? He knew she'd find somebody else, and he hoped and prayed that Jenna's next lover would be perfect for her... The perfect girl. And what of Laika, and Kodi, and his sisters? How long until the grieving stopped and they no longer talked about their uncle Balto, who gave his life so that their mother could live hers. He, again, hoped it wouldn't come do that. It really would be best if they simply had forgotten about him, and could live their lives freely, the way he wished it could have been.

Balto, 1957

The temperature in the cabin was once again falling. It was a bit comfortable now, but I didn't really care to check the exact temperature. Recently I've found myself thinking more and more about my ultimate demise... It was obvious that I wasn't getting back to Earth, and I had to face the facts that this ship, by no means, was meant to support me indefinitely. It seemed like a depressing thought, but the way I saw it, was a way out. I'd be free... Free from this 5x5x10 foot cabin, free from the trials of Humans and their stupid wars.

As I snapped back to reality, I've taken note that, for the past hour or so, I was blindly staring at the wall. How odd? It was as if I had been in some sort of trance... Perhaps I was just lost in my own little world. Sure, I might die soon... Doesn't mean I can't enjoy the view while I remain prisoner.

Prisoner... Ha. As if any prisoner on Earth had this miraculous view before them. I was no prisoner... I was a cosmonaut.

Speaking of cosmonauts, I wondered what lie in the future of space travel, and the progression of Man on their never ending mission to reach the sky. They've done it. Sent a living thing into space. I was physical proof that a man can survive out here. If that we're true, I had to communicate with the ground... I had to let them know I was alive... Then maybe... Just maybe, the humans would put their petty bullshit behind them and work together towards a common goal.

Jenna, 1956, kennel club.

The sun set quickly, and with the type of landscape southern Kazakhstan had, it quickly turned from dark, to pitch black, with nothing but lights of cities far in the distance, and the headlights of Frank's truck. Balto and Jenna were lost in conversation, completely ignoring the 100 mile drive, as they entertained one another.

"…and then we hopped into Marci's truck and rode all the way down here." Balto finished explaining.

Jenna registered every word that came from the hybrids mouth as if they were literally word from a king. To her, Balto was her king... Well, maybe prince. Or a knight? She wasn't sure. Even though it took a few tries towards Balto, he eventually settled on telling Jenna his life story. Both of them knew he wasn't going to be around forever, but decided to ignore that for now, and just enjoy the time they had left.

"Well? You know all about me... What about you?" Balto asked.

"Hmm... I don't know if I trust you yet." She teased.

"Come on, I told you everything. You literally know more about me than my own father. Mainly because I didn't tell him about the events leading up to our kiss a while back."

Balto looked at Boris, who was in the front and out of earshot from the two. He tried to give Balto and Jenna as much privacy as he could, because this was not only the best thing to happen in Balto's life. It was pretty much the happiest moment in Boris's too. Though his mood changed a bit as he gazed down at the out-cold dog beneath him. Kodi was still wasted beyond normal levels and probably would wake up – albeit with a pretty bad headache - in a few hours or so. Frank more or less ignored all the animals, as he wasn't exactly the brightest bulb out there, and thought that the goose was caring for the dog out of instinct. As for Balto and Jenna, he figured they were just friends... Close, close friends. When he got to the kennel, he might have to ask the clerk to put them in a breeding cage just in case. For now, Jenna would continue to tease Balto, but she really had nothing to hide from him. She was happy of her life this far, and wanted nothing more than to share the rest of it with her new friend. Or should she call him her boyfriend? Is it too early?

Soon, Frank plus three canines and a goose pulled up into Baikonur, the actual city of which the Baikonur Cosmodrone gets its name, and not even half a mile into it, was the "soviet animal care and training camp". Simply called a Kennel from off-landers. As Frank pulled up in his track, he stopped it and sat there for a minute.

"I'm having second thoughts about this... I don't know how they'll react if they see a wolf. I don't even know if they'll keep a wolf, let alone this one here who's still out cold for some reason. But you seem nice enough... I suppose I'll just take you guys to my home after I drop Jenna off."

"Oh no..." Jenna said.

"I don't like that plan!" Balto said.

"Looks like we don't have a choice..." Jenna said as she lowered her ears and head.

Frank opened the door for her to jump out. It was a pretty much daily routine, wife this is where Jenna lived, trained, and slept. Every day frank would pick her up, and every day he would drop her off at night. But not this time... Jenna didn't want to go. Something stopped her.

"Come on girl! I've got to get back home before I miss my shows!" He said.

Frank reached his hand in to grab her, but she did something she never done before, let alone towards Frank, the one human who had always treated her nicely. She growled back at him and showed her teeth.

"Jenna? What's gotten into you girl!" Frank said as he retracted his hand.

"Psst, Jenna... Don't do this. Well see each other again in no time! You'll see." Balto said.

"You promise?" She whispered back.

"Of course. I've told you about Laika, so you know me already. A promise is one I cherish, and never break." He assured her.

"Oh you are just too perfect." She replied.

"And you the same, my love." He whispered back.

Jenna blushed at his romantic words, however corny they were, and finally obliged to Franks demands and jumped down from the truck. She looked back at her friend one last time. He only smiled back, both eyes locked onto hers as she slowly retracted away with Frank. Friend... To hell with it. Balto was her boyfriend, her mate, whatever you called it, he was hers, and she was his. Neither of them would have wanted it any other way.

Only when she or inside of the kennel lobby did she finally register Balto's last words to her.

_"And you the same, my love." _

Did he really just say that? Or did she imagine it? And she thought she was moving too fast… But it also meant that he shared the same feelings that she did for him, and that made her happy. Jenna was so locked in her thoughts that she almost didn't notice a certain character enter the lobby with his trainer leading him.

"Ugh, Steele..." She muttered.

"Hey Jenna. Work hard today? You look like you could use a massage." Steele said as he got right into her face.

"Buzz off Steele. You're not putting a paw on me."

"Oh, trust me baby. I won't even need to put a paw on you."

"What does that even mean?" She asked with a stupid look at Steele.

"Oh... Well... I'm not even sure..." He stammered embarrassed.

Steele opened his mouth to talk, but was cut off by his owner.

"Come on you mutt. Can't wait to get you off my hands..." Said an angry officer as he pulled Steele harshly by the collar.

"Till next time, my foxy lady." He said as he was dragged off.

"I'm not your lady, jerk!" She yelled back as he entered the doorway into the back room.

"You know you want-" his voice was cut off as the door slammed shut.

She shook her head angrily as frank waited in line for the clerk. Sure she had a few more minutes of peace, but soon she'd be in the back room of the kennel, and to be bothered all night by Steele with nobody around to save her. She didn't show it well, but going to work with Frank was the best thing ever, simply because it meant she could get away from this place... She hated it here so much.

Every night, she is locked up in a cage on a dark room, with a few dozen other dogs. Every night she slept on a hard metallic cage with nothing by a thin newspaper as a bed. Every night she hoped and prayed that someone would take her from this place... And every night, Steele would break out of his cage and constantly torment and manipulate her into mating with him.

Now she had yet another thing to deal with... She had to spend yet another night alone, but this time knowing that her new found love was not around. Already, she could feel her heart freeze over knowing that she would be separated from him. Every moment, every second, every heartbeat, spent without Balto, was one she would resent and hate more than anything.

Frank signed his worksheet, and another man came and took her leash from him.

"See ya Jenna. I'll come back at 6 like always."

Jenna was sad, but his words alone made her feel good. It was 8pm now, which meant she only had to wait 10 more hours... Ten more hours of this place...

The man from the lobby took her back into her everyday cage, and gave her a bowl of milk. Necessary for her, since the modified ATP receptors on her bones required a large amount of Calcium, otherwise she'd probably break her bones by jumping off a slightly higher step. The man pets her for a bit before locking her cage shut, and as soon as he walked out of the door, it quickly became dark and quiet in this depressing room.

_"Another night alone... Oh Balto, how I miss you already."_ She thought.

Jenna curled up into a tight ball and tried to suppress her tears of sorrow, anger, and angst, as she heard a rustling of her cage door.

"Hey Jenna. You look like you could use some company." Steele said with a smile.

"Oh god no." She thought.

It was going to be a long night…

Balto, 1956

Balto let out a long and annoyed sigh as he rode alone in the back of the truck. Boris finally caught onto it, and figured Kodi wasn't going to die if he left just for a sec to checkup on his father.

"You okay buddy boy?" He asked.

"Fine."

Boris was many things, but stupid wasn't one of them. Another thing he knew, was how to handle a situation like this.

"You don't look fine. You don't smell fine. You don't-" Boris leaned over and pretended to lick him, by actually only brushed him with his beak- "taste fine?"

"It's nothing, really. Is Kodi okay?"

"He is. But you're not. Now what is bothering you?" He asked again.

"As if asking a second time is going to change my answer." Balto said without looking at him.

"It's Jenna, isn't it? You've fallen for the police girl."

Balto ignored him for the most part, and blindly watched as the trees fired by while the truck zoomed down the road. He turned to Boris, who was still looking at him, and nodded once, before dropping his head again.

"Such is life. People come, people go. But you know all about that." Boris said.

He sat down next to Balto's head and rubbed his ears for a bit.

"What do you mean?" Balto asked.

"Such is life. It is saying in Russia, and it-"

"No, no. About the people come, people go part."

"Oh..." Boris stopped.

"It's nothing really. Just another saying in Russia."

"And how does it apply now?" Balto asked.

He turned to the goose now, staring him down and expecting an answer. Boris kept his own for almost a full minute, not wanting to spill a single word from his beak. Soon Balto appeared to let it go and turned his head to stare back out into the landscape.

"You. It applies to you."

"Me? What do you mean?"

"You come, you go! Such is life." Boris said quickly.

"Boris I..." Balto stopped, because he did not have an argument against that.

"Balto... What are we doing down here? You are going on mission, yes? Laika comes, but Laika doesn't go? Instead you take her place, and then what? You go too." Boris explained.

Balto could detect the weight in his words, and it stabbed his heart when his father spoke this way. Only now did he think clearly. Why was he doing this? Sure, it was something he wanted to do, something that would grant his niece a life to live, and grant his son a mother forever longer. But did he think about Boris?

He looked up at the goose, and something was different about him. He was sad.

In all of Balto's days with the goose, not once did he show the slightest weakness. Boris was always the macho one, the father figure that Balto needed for him to grow up properly. Yet here was his old man, saddened by the potential loss of his only son. It tore Balto apart.

"Bor-... dad."

Boris looked down at his son. The wolf dogs amber-colored and shining eyes gleaming in the low light of the night sky. He saw, once again, the pup he's loved since the day he found him. His son, his... Adopted, wolf dog hybrid son; whom he loved more than anything in the world.

"Yeah, son?" He said.

"I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to leave anybody. And Laika is not going to leave either."

"What do you plan?"

"We're taking Laika back home."

Boris smiled.

"I like that plan. So tell me. What of this policedog girl?"

Balto smiled at the question. He could talk about her for years, and never once feel the need to stop. She was not only his first friend in the world, she was his first girlfriend. But wait? Was it even appropriate to call her that? I mean, sheesh, they've only met this afternoon... Perhaps he was skipping ahead too far... And... Oh no, did he really just say...

_"And you the same, my love." _

He said it so... Absentmindedly, like they were already an old married couple. It was terrible to try and force his love onto her... But, all he could remember was her constant smile. Him calling her 'my love' did not once break it. Maybe... Just maybe, she loved him back.

"Well?" Boris pried.

Balto looked back at him and shook his head a bit.

"I... I think... I love her."

**((()-()))**

**Well, DUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHH lol. Review if you want, and 'till next time, Bryan.**


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